


Heir to Nothing

by Ergoemos



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angsty but Fair, Gen, Not a Relationship-Fic, POV Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Quiet Link, Screw Destiny, Self-Hatred, Suicidal Thoughts, Zelda Deserved Better, Zelda has Serious Self-Esteem Issues - Surprising No One, first rule of fanfiction compliant, pre-gameplay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2018-11-18 01:22:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 64,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11280789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ergoemos/pseuds/Ergoemos
Summary: Zelda has worked all her life to not only fulfill her slated destiny as vessel for the Goddess's voice but also to prepare all of Hyrule for the eventual return of Calamity Ganon by researching the ancient technology left behind by the Sheikah. Everyone else knows exactly what their role is, but Zelda can't fathom relying on destiny... especially when it seems unwilling to rely on her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is intended to be a divergent timeline that seems perfectly plausible within the Breath of the Wild memories. While this first section is rather choppy, the future chapters are not intended to be so. For now, I am just trying to get the buzzing idea out of my head.
> 
> This was written because I am frustrated that so much of the plot of Breath of the Wild had to be thrown into the garbage to accommodate the game play. The story is more compelling to me if there is no time skip, and Zelda has to face Ganon in the now, not after a hundred years of... waiting for the game to finish. Zelda deserved better, and relying on your passion rather than 'destiny' should be hard, but all the more rewarding.

Zelda dabbed a bit at the cut on Link’s brow, trying to ignore the smell of meat and offal pulled to them by the wind. “That cut doesn’t look too bad, actually.” It was clear Link’s mind wasn’t on the small cut on his forehead, as he glanced over the battlefield littered with bodies, as if he was worried another moblin would rise from the grave while she ministered a few seconds of first aid. Sensing his impatience, she pulled her hand back.

“You’re fine for now. But, you know, there’s a fine line between Courage-” her eyes flicked to the back of his hand, “and recklessness. As brave as you are, that does not make you immortal.”

Zelda, as much as she loathed his constant attendance, knew Link well enough to know he was fully aware of his mortality. He gave her a challenging glance, but it was meant with none of the force he used to slay a score of bokoblins and moblins.

Her own eyes wandered over the slain creatures. Raiders, scavengers, killers. There were rumors of moblins who did not want to attack and hurt humans, but there haven’t been any credible stories in living memory. “It seems that… not only is the frequency of these attacks on the rise, but the scale of beasts we are facing is intensifying as well.”

Silence, unwelcome but expected fills the gap, and Zelda, loathing the silence that taunts her every day, fills it with the dearth of sound of something else she hates. Hollow predictions that say little but seem important, “I fear that… I fear that this is an omen which portends the return of Calamity Ganon.”

Zelda rose to her feet, patting off the dirt from her pants, having been careful to avoid any blood that may have been splattered around. “And-” she looks down at Link, but finds his eyes looking past her, towards the distant glowing fires of Death Mountain. His brow knitted together and his face clouded with thoughts, rather than his unflappable focus. She used to loathe that unyielding focus, but she knew a little better now he meant no ill by it.

Caught by the silence this time, Zelda felt a surge of concern as Link opened his mouth to speak, a low murmur almost lost to the wind, “Death mountain shakes... Assassins… in the open…” His eyes look towards the dead by his hands, a silent third mark in her favor.

Did he agree that it seemed like the time was coming? There was no reading him. She could only get what she gleaned in the moment.

Her hand reached instinctively to the Sheikah Slate at her hip, a tiny gift from her hard wrought work, her identity as a scholar in hand. Link was rattled, and he held the Master Sword.

He looked up at her and she resolved herself as well as she could, being not the heir to Courage. “And if that’s the case, we should prepare to expect the worst. Let’s make preparations as soon as possible.” Zelda knew they needed to travel to the shrine of Power again, and then Courage. She hated these pilgrimages. There were only so many times she could bear to pray and pray for hours, without coming to hate the goddesses that damned her to this. Only a few more months… and her pilgrimages would be completed with a third shrine to visit.

With Link watching, it was always worse. Already chosen. Already freed from the burden of knowing… if he would ever reach his potential. She used to hate him for that confidence.

Link nodded, though, oblivious to her envy, prepared to be at her side regardless, wordless and apparently without complaint.

Assassins and Death Mountain and Moblins.

The faster she completed her duties, the sooner she could go back to reading the old tomes, trying to unlock the secrets left behind. Maybe the Goddess would be with her this time, when she visited the shrine too… but as she shuddered, looking at the dead bodies they left behind, she didn’t have the courage to hope for it.

She wanted to make progress, not wait for destiny to come, if it came. She had to find more of the Ancients’ secrets, alone, as no one else seemed to care to learn more about them but her.

Link called out to their horses, hopefully not scared too far from them during the sounds and smell of battle.

\----

The rain pours down on them. Without sharing words, they’d not even bothered to put up their camp. As the sun rose, barely visible through the grey clouds. Zelda had offered words, but they’d not been shared, as usual. Another day of surveying lost. This was to be her penultimate trip. The last one before… the last one. Barely two weeks left. She’d have time to visit the castle one last time, and see the progress her team had on controlling the Guardians.

That they already conquered the Divine Beasts was incredible. Inside these beasts, Zelda had found further evidence on how to control their lesser siblings. The goddess, silent as always, lent her the final clue when she’d been inside Vah Ruta, while Link coddled up to his childhood friend. Maybe there had been a breakthrough with the research team back home as well, while she was gone on another fruitless quest. But she had to go, or else she’d be accused of being… entitled, once again. Even as she dedicated her life to Hyrule’s protection.

She was always worried that her father was going to send spies to make sure she was attending her ‘duties’ properly, such as getting her knees wet in dedication to silence. Even the patter of rain wasn’t enough to dim the emptiness she always heard. At least when she was studying, her mind buzzed louder than the silence.

“I doubt this will let up anytime soon...”

Zelda supposed she was talking to Link, but she might as well be talking to the storms as well. His sword cut foes with deadly accuracy, and the whistle of his blade through the deadly water droplets was a well practiced rhythm, with the occasionally grunt in the middle of a sequence that even Zelda had memorized the pattern for. He may not even be able to hear her over the storm.

All the better, as she pitied herself. “... Your path seems to mirror your father's. You've dedicated your life to being a knight as well. You commitment to the training necessary to meet your goal is really quite admirable.”

Of course, he did hear her, but she couldn’t help but finish her praise. Really, she should have written it into her dedication speech to the hero, months ago. It was kinder than the speech she’d given. “I see now why you would be the chosen one.” He looked at her, and Zelda couldn’t help but look away even as he pretended to go back to practicing.

“What if…” She loathed how she whined, but if Link minded, he didn’t say. Damn him too, for being the only one she could talk to most days. “One day… you realized that you just weren’t meant to be a fighter.” She swallowed, staring at stones that hid from the rain as she did, in the overhang of the tree.

“Yet the only thing every one ever said, was that you were born into a family of the royal guard, and so no matter what you thought, you had to become a knight. If that was the only thing you were ever told... I wonder then, would you have chosen a different path…” Zelda never didn’t want to be a princess of Hyrule. She just… didn’t want to be The Princess of Hyrule, heir to Wisdom. Not anymore.

There was the sound of a few steps, and Zelda found that Link stopped his practice and was lowering himself into the wet grass next to her. On the grass before them, he set The Master Sword, glorious and as legendary as the two of them were... Link looked down at it too, but with a good deal less envy than Zelda.

If she could read him at all, it looked like… distaste. “This sword… is too long. I like the bow. I like my old short sword and shield.” Link picked up the scabbard and sighed, “But the weapon is flawless.”

Zelda was speechless for a moment, a rare feat even for her, though she’d be loath to admit it. Link was unyielding! He was supposed to be the perfect hero. From him, this was almost offensive to hear. No one would ever believe her, even if Zelda tried to tell anyone this exchange.

Babbling, for she was never at a loss for words for long, she asked, “Did… did you not want to be a knight?”

Link sheathed the sword, the tip of which which was a little long for his reach, let his face fall into the mask again, as he asked, “... Do we have a choice?”

Zelda knew what he meant. The pressing weight of Time. Eons of prophecy. Power, Courage, Wisdom. An evil, a hero, a princess. And always a master sword to guide. In response to Link, she muttered all the same, “We should.”

Her hand rested on her only treasure, the Sheikah Slate. Her fingers trembled as the gears in her mind fit into place again. A sword’s chosen one. Her slate. But did she have the rights to it? Was anything really hers?  
  
Oblivious to her thoughts, Link agreed with a nod and stood up, as if about to begin practice again.

“Link.”

He paused before drawing that flawless blade. She continued, “When we get back to the castle… I’d like to pick up my book of notes on the shrines, and the platforms. Would…” She swallowed, loathing to ask this favor. “I think... if you would allow me, you may have some luck with making a difference where I can’t… if we take a divergence… on the next journey?”

He knew as well as she that it was the last journey. He didn’t argue or press her, or say anything at her unusual request. She usually just demanded what she wanted, and he said nothing.

This time she was glad for his silence, knowing he was okay with this.

\---

Back at the castle, her heart was skipping, but with joy this time. A wrapped tome clenched beneath her elbow, she looked over the bridge to her study, seeing the Sheikah guiding and controlling the wonderfully bright guardian. It walked with slow ponderous steps, but it was a the confidence she saw in controller that lifted her spirits.

Link looked with her, and she couldn’t keep the pride from her voice, “Incredible, we're at the point where we can actually control them. At the current rate, we'll soon know all we need to know about the guardians and the Divine Beasts.” Unsaid was the hope she’d never need to bothering with silly prophecy. They could slay Ganon with ingenuity and Ancient assistance.

She put her thoughts to word as she turned to face Link, who looked more surprised than he ought to have been, “And, if should Ganon ever show itself again, we'll be well positioned to defend ourselves.”

“What are you doing out here, Zelda?”

Her heart stopped, and Link began to kneel before she could even turn. Guilt and shame and anger clawed at her, but her father had once said ‘Wisdom was to find the words that were needed, even in the darkest moments’.

He paused, not coming within five meters of her, like he was already disappointed.

He was already disappointed, even before she could speak. She could see the constant disappointment on the large man’s burly face, his hair white with the age and Wisdom the Hylian royal bloodline was so praised for.

A little too hotly, she protested, “I... I was assessing the results of the experiment with the guardians. These pieces of ancient technology could be quite useful against-”

“I know that.” She flinched. She hated that she flinched. “They're essential to Hyrule's future and our research demands we keep a close eye on them.”

Words tried to burble from her throat before he could start, but his were first, and dammed hers, “However… As the princess, you currently have a crucial unfulfilled responsibility to your kingdom.” Zelda knew what came next. “Let me ask you once more: When will you stop treating this as some childish game?”

Zelda thrust away every protest she could offer. The guardian below was not enough. The Divine Beasts were the success of others, not hers to own. All this research, advancement, she’d pushed and compounded upon, desperate to make more than just an impression of being The Princess.

Father didn’t care. She didn’t bother. Even these words were hopeless. “I'm doing everything I can.” All he wanted to hear about was the Goddess, “I'll have you know I just recently returned from the Spring of Courage, where I offered every ounce of my prayers to the goddess-”

His lecture began as she expected. He approached, three quick steps, cutting her off with words sharp enough to be an epitaph, “And now you are here, wasting your time! You need to be dedicating every moment of your time to your training. You cannot continue wasting the nation’s resources on your research. We have others far better equipped for that. Less important than you.”

But this lesson ended differently. His hands grasped the oil-cloth protected book from her elbow, waving it in her face, “You must be single minded in unlocking the power that will seal Calamity Ganon away!”

Not her book. Not the notes. She plead with her uncaring father, “I already am... Don't you see, there nothing more I can do! My hope... My hope is that you… That you'll allow me to contribute here, in whatever way I can-”

“No more excuses Zelda!

“Stop running away from your duty. As the king I forbid you from having anything to do with these machines from this moment on. I command you to focus on your training.” Zelda wilted, like the Silent Princess dying in her greenhouse.

Her father couldn’t even face her as he spoke anymore, ashamed in her failures, uninterested in her success. “... Do you know how the gossip mongers refer to you? They're out there at this moment, whispering among themselves…”

He placed her book on the ledge of the bridge. He looked like he might toss it over, as if it were no more important than yesterday’s tea.

“That you are the heir to nothing. Nothing but failure. It is woven into your destiny that you prove them wrong. Do you understand?” Zelda didn’t want to prove anyone wrong, if it mean more destiny, more silence, more failure. She choked back a sob.

Her voice cracked, “Yes…” there was a sound behind her as she answered, broken, “I understand.”

She’d never been much of a crier. It would be more weakness that she couldn't bare to also show. Her eyes stung fiercely, but she'd been expecting this fate far before now. She accepted this and hoped someone else, maybe Robbie or Purah, as young as they are, could take on her research. Maybe they would succeed where she so obviously failed. 

Her father started to leave, the book of fervent notes and many days in his hands - destined for a fireplace, Zelda was certain - but someone stepped past Zelda towards the king.

His head lowered, Link stepped forward, approaching the king. He bowed deeply, and in a barely audible whisper, he said, “Sir… I will see that she attends her destiny.” He stood and offered his hands to take the book.

The king hesitated, and gave it to Link. “See that you do. We all have our roles to play. I am glad one of us is willing.”

The king left. Link’s head was still bowed until the king re-entered the castle. Scarcely believing Link’s bravery, Zelda asked, “What… What possessed you…”

Link turned to face her, his own face resolved with more anger than she’d thought she’d ever seen. When his eyes met hers, however, they softened.

“You should attend your destiny,” without explaining further, her tome of knowledge was offered back to her. She had been certain it was lost forever. Seeing it now was… a goddess send.

“Yes. We should.”

  
\---  
Zelda left the castle almost excited that afternoon, as they decided to head to the Shrine of Power first, before swinging back to hit the Shrine of Courage before finally… facing her destiny on Mount Lanayru.

The Shrine of Power first, because it was considerably out of the way, and because there was an easy Ancient Shrine to visit along the way. Ze Kasho slept just on the hill over southern stables of Akkala. It would be an easy thing to stable their horses and climb that hill one evening.

Then she would hand her only possession over to the true chosen one of Hyrule… and maybe something would happen.

\---

Before them stood the cold dead shrine of Ze Kasho, as dark as the guardians when she first unearthed one. At the time, it had only been a matter of finding the right control schema and activating them with the Sheikah Stone. Once powered, anyone could control the ancient guardians with the right commands.

These shrines, however, had always been dead for Zelda. Just as the markings outside indicated that only The Sword Wielder could enter, so too did they invariably ignore all Zelda’s attempts to bypass the system.

This time, however… She looked over to see that Link was standing next to her, eyeing the shrine more like it might attack rather than than act as a portal of knowledge.

“Like I said, you should be able to enter these shrines. That pedestal over there is activated by the Sheikah Slate. If you take it, it should respond to your attempts.”

Zelda said these words, but she couldn’t help but wish it weren’t true, that she could be just as chosen as he. She was thankful that he did not offer his hand for the Slate until she was ready.

The device glowed no differently in his hand than in hers. She’d shown it to him before, even directed him on some of the features. He took a few steps forward. “Now don’t forget to take any pictures, or all the pictures, if possible. What’s in that shrine is quite unprecedented. I can’t find any records at all to indicate what the Ancients might hide behind such careful barriers.”

He nodded, not looking at her, as he stepped up to the pedestal. The air, for a moment, stood still as Link raised the slate to the pedestal. With a clank of stone against stone… nothing happened.

Zelda let out a quick sigh. Of relief? Or maybe of defeat. Zelda could have been much happier about Link’s failure, but it was clearly misguided and ill-wrought. She wasn’t happy for failure. She shouldn’t revel in the failure of a friend. Damn the ancients, it was like they’d set these puzzles up to mock Zelda for every ounce of hope she held.

Link did try again, to his credit, but it was just another clink of stone against stone.

“Come on… We should rest before we visit the Shrine of Power.” There wasn’t anything else worth saying.

\---

After nothing at the Shrine of Power, they took the long way north of Hyrule to circle her kingdom towards the Shrine of Courage. They’d tried a few more shrines, but it was just the clack of stone against stone, again and again.

They rested their horses at the statue of a horse, a fitting location, though Zelda pondered the edge of the banister far more deeply than any princess should. She hated that she did. They needed to make it to the Shrine of Courage tonight.

Link, as if sensing where her thoughts lead, came closer to her, to stare over Hyrule at her side.

Her mortal foe, silence, needed slaying once again, “See that Mountain?”

Of course he did. He was quiet, not blind. She told him information he knew. Information he’d heard from her more than once. “That's Mount Lanayru. It takes its name from the Goddess of Wisdom. Lanayru's decree is very specific, it says ‘no one is allowed under the age of 17, so only the wise are permitted a place upon the mountain.’... I've prayed at the Spring of Courage, and at the Spring of Power, yet neither awoke anything inside me. But maybe up there. Perhaps the Spring of Wisdom, the final of the three, will be the one.”

Zelda nearly choked on the words, knowing they’d be ones better offered to someone who didn’t already receive their blessings. To her father, or the Sheikah who followed her. The champions had their destiny. Link his… why couldn’t she find hers?

“To be honest, I have no real faith in this. Would… would you indulge me? After I come down from that last shrine , could we visit an excavation site before visiting the castle to share my failures?” In truth she couldn't bare thinking about that confrontation with her father. That ire, the poison she'd need to be prepared for. She would rather not exist than face that wrath. 

Link looked at her, curious, without judgement or condemnation. “The Sheikah found a... pedestal just east of Mount Daphnes, in the Passeri Estate cellars, of all places. It… it looks like the same pedestal inside the Shrine of Resurrection south of here.” She shook her head, “Maybe it works the same way, where one must leave the slate behind to power the healing chamber… but maybe something more might happen. Something fruitful on this trip. “

Link nodded without hesitation, the best thing he could do for her. “Thank you…”

“But first…” her mind and eyes traveled further east again, “Tomorrow, is my seventeenth birthday. And so I shall go, and make my way up the mountain.”

  
\---

There is nothing worse than an audience for failure, Zelda resolved. At least, this time, no one followed her to the shrine.

But at the bottom of the hill, her guardian… the champions too, all watched her failure. Most of them knew without a word. But someone had to ask anyway.

Daruk asked first, “Well, don't keep us in suspense, how'd everything go there on the mountain?”

She couldn't look them in the face. In all fairness, she was not very close to the champions. Sure, she’d helped them master their Divine Beasts, but she didn't think they thought much of her, the only one who couldn't actually do her job. “Oh…” she couldn't even bring herself to say anything.

Revali, who reveled in his successes, did not hesitated to fire a barbed arrow. “So you didn't feel anything? No power at all?”

Nothing to do but face her failure head on. She ought to be used to it by now. “I'm sorry, no.” The ugly silence was worse than at the shrine of wisdom, when she cried into the hateful cold pool of water.

“Then let's move on.” Urbosa, her only close friend among the Champions, was well versed in picking up Zelda’s limp spirits. “You've done all you could. Feeling sorry for yourself won't do you any good.” This time, in front of everyone, it was hollow. “After all, It's not like your last shot was up there on Mount Lanayru. Anything could finally spark the power to finally seal Ganon away. We just have to keep looking for that thing.”

She was trying so hard. Zelda knew she couldn't request Urbosa to stop trying but Zelda would rather face Link’s honest silence than justifications that not even Zelda could lie to herself about. “That's kind of you. Thank you.” This had been everyone’s last hope. Ganon could show up today and no one would count on her for anything. She couldn't even rely on the Chosen One activating the shrines.

“If I may.” Mipha speaking up was enough to break Zelda of her self evaluation. The Zora always seemed afraid to interact with Zelda, like the Hylian would bite back, blunt teeth or no. It's not like Zelda was envious of Mipha’s time with Link. At least one of them deserved to be happy.

“I thought you.. well, I am not sure how to put this into words. I'm actually quite embarrassed to say it. But I was thinking about what I do when I'm healing. You know, what usually goes through my mind. It helps when I think... when I think about…”

Zelda didn't need her to finish her words. She’d understood at the first furtive glance at Link. Zelda couldn't help but try not to laugh. She didn't love Link. In fact, she could barely contain her loathing and envy of the chosen one from the start. Zelda had only wanted a fraction of his success, not a part in his life, even though his life was assigned to her. Zelda loved her work with the Ancients... and the Goddess clearly didn't approve. She was about to say something perhaps too snappish in response when the world shook.

There was a crash that nearly shook them all to the ground, echoing from Hyrule’s center. Revali, burst into the air to survey what happened, but at the core of Zelda’s heart she knew what it was.

Urbosa said it first, before Revali could even report, “It’s here.”

Daruk, almost eager, answered her, “This is it then.”

Mipha seemed to not want to believe, reached back towards Link instinctively, “Are you sure?”

Revali landed, “Positive.”

Her heart fell through the pit of her stomach as she saw the creeping violet malevolence across the sky. “It’s awake. Ganon.” She was at a loss for words, but Daruk, who fashioned himself a war chief, didn’t need to think.

“Let's stop wasting time!” The Goron announced the rest. “We're gonna need everything we got to take that thing down! Now champions, to your divine beasts! Show that swirling swine who's boss! Link will need to meet Ganon head on when we attack. This need to be a unified assault.” Zelda barely heard the scoff from Revali as Daruk continued, but the negativity fed into her own thoughts, “Little guy, you need to head to Hyrule Castle. You can count us for support, but it's up to you to pound Ganon into oblivion!”

Zelda didn’t need them to tell her she had no place in this group of heroes. She was the heir to nothing, after all. Urbosa came behind her and said, ushering her, “ Come, we should go, we need to get you somewhere safe.” Her warm large hands on her shoulders was a comfort and a vice all the same. She didn’t deserve such things, being so useless until now.

Zelda wanted to protest she wasn’t a child. That she didn’t need to be hidden away. But she was no one’s chosen. She wasn’t even a scholar. She was wrong about the Chosen One and his access to the Sheikah Stones.

She almost let herself get dragged away. In her shame, she forced herself to look up at everyone, to face their disappointment. But Link wasn’t watching the encroaching evil over the skies. He watched her, as if waiting for something.

“No.”

Everyone stopped to look at her, except Link, who’d already been waiting.

“I may not be much use on the battlefield, but I’ve spent my life not only seeking the Goddess’s guidance, but also working to understand the Ancient’s technology. If we are going to fight Ganon as the ancients did… I can help Link there.” Revali, typical of his proud nature, scoffed again, but Daruk, who she didn’t know as well as Link, seemed to approve.

Urbosa, whom she expected to protest, deferred to Link’s lack of argument, said, “Alright, Zelda. You stay safe and follow your knight’s lead.”

Zelda nodded, hand resting on the Slate at her side as Mipha stepped close to Link, whispering something in his ear.

“Alright everyone! Let’s go!” Daruk shouted, as Revali took flight. Daruk took the mountains directly north. Mipha went home via the waterways as soon as they hit the Necluda Lake. Urbosa left them at Kakariko Village, a wordless nod.

Then, it was just Zelda and Link and their horses against the negative tide over Hyrule, her home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarity, I used Gamespot's video on all 18 memories in chronological order for much of my material.


	2. Chapter 2

The people in Kakariko village were scared, but let out a cheer as the Hero of Courage rode out of town, Zelda following behind, like a child tagging along behind their older sibling.

Zelda’s mind was flicking back and forth between the encroaching evil on the horizon, her friends and family back at the castle, and her notes on how to best corral Ganon with the Ancient’s technology. Zelda was certain they’d have already started the process, but they would need the Sheikah Slate to activate some of the still deactive machines. Oh goddess, she hoped that her journey up the mountain didn’t take too long.

That’s when her eyes were drawn towards the center of Hyrule itself, where not only Calamity Ganon’s evil seemed to spread, but also where there was an inordinant amount of smoke rising in front of it. Was Hyrule Town itself on flames too?

It almost took her too long to notice the distant claxon, and the red beam of light centered on her travel companion. “Link!” His eyes tracked towards the sound and he leapt off his horse with a shout.

A beam of white searing light burned through the top of the saddle where he’d been moments ago, and the horses screamed in panic. Zelda, not quick enough to reassure her horse, was bucked off her own mount. Not the first time, she’d admit, and she couldn’t blame the horses to panic. She was panicking, why wouldn’t they?  
  
As a heap on the ground she couldn’t figure out what bothered her more, being tossed from the horse - which caused considerable pain - or the encroaching realization that at guardian was firing at them. They were being fired upon by the ancient’s technology of the Guardians.

Oh Goddess, did the Yiga Clan undermine all her work?  
  
She pushed herself to her feet, desperate to catch a glimpse of those red-clothed freaks or what was happening at the castle, but she was afraid of the answer. She needed to move anyway. Link needed to focus on the guardian, not on her acting like a target.

Link had already dashed half the way to the violet and blue glowing machine that had come over the ridge of the Bottomless Swamp, looking now as malevolent as the purple haze over the sky. Another ping and a flash, and the machine missed him by inches. Zelda got to her feet, feeling as helpless as she looked, before moving to a nearby ridge of earth and stone she could huddle behind. The least she could do for Link was not look like a target.

She reached the ridge, not far off the road between the Bottomless Swamp and the Whistling Hills and looked over it in time to watch Link slide underneath two of the beast’s legs, the Master sword striking sparks as it cut through them.

He had to dodge again and- Zelda blinked, before pulling out her Sheikah Slate. Lifting it up, she enabled the camera mode to look, though she couldn’t mistake them for anything else now.

Two more guardians came over the horizon, both scanning for something, heading for the general direction of Kakariko Village.

Another final ping and screeching blast. Zelda looked back to see Link sever the last limb of the machine gone rogue.

“Link!” She shouted, as he ducked away from the erratic light coming off the thing, “Two more inbound and-” There was the start of a distant ping, and a red light centered on Link’s back. “One’s targeting you!”

Link nodded and ducked around the cracked and glowing husk of his first slain guardian, and the red light stopped.

The guardian exploded, losing part of its top, and the glowing ceased. It was as dead as the day Zelda had found it. There was a pinging again and both Link and Zelda looked for what was targeting him, before Zelda made a small noise and hid behind the hill. “Sorry! I am out of sight now! Link, there shouldn’t be more than seven of these Guardians. Those are the only ones I’d managed to wake up!” And she was glad she had at this rate. It had been a safety precaution, but now she saw that she’d been right.

Why didn’t her stomach settle though?

Link screamed a “Ha!” of acknowledgement as he climbed over the dead machine to strike at the first of the approaching machines. The sound of dueling pings made her skin crawl and she hoped Link could manage two of the beasts at once as well.

While they were distracted, Zelda popped her head above the ridge again, and looked around using the slate. She took a few pictures of the violet storm over the castle, trying to understand what was happening exactly, and get a feel for the situation. She prayed everyone was alright, but even the Sheikah warriors and castle guard are sure to struggle with two or three Guardians.

What scared Zelda was how quickly these three made it to Kakariko Village. Just how much damage had the Yiga Clan wrought?

Zelda then found her eyes drawn to the bottom of the picture and realized just how terribly, horribly wrong she was to feel any relief. “Oh Goddess no…”

The sound of battle ended with another two explosions, and Zelda scrambled over the ridge to Link himself.

Link looked a little worse for wear, after a fight with two of them at once, his shield was marred where he took one blast directly. His fingers barely held the shield as his eyes locked on the same destruction she saw in the pictures.

Hyrule Town was in flames. It wasn’t just in flames, but in two following flashes of brilliant, deadly light, another building burst into flames. There more than two dozen of the machines climbing over the walls and buildings of Hyrule town, targeting everything that moved.

A dozen more were fanning out again from the town, blasting at soldiers that were trying to protect the fleeing townsfolk.

Link seemed to shake off his shock first, and gripped his weapon and shield and he tensed to run.

Zelda tensed herself, saying, “No! Link, you can’t!”

For the first time a long time, Zelda saw Link look at her in genuine anger. She nearly quailed, this anger far sharper than anything her father could strike her with. But she stuck to her guns, “You are not invincible, Link. You can’t take on all of those machines!” He turned away as if he was going to prove her wrong. “And, Link, even if you could, would you be in any shape to face down Ganon!?” At this, he seemed to pause, thinking. Zelda forged forward, “Even if my powers awaken, the Goddess gives me the power to truly Ganon, but only with your help, not alone.”

Link stopped and looked at her, impatient at even the slightest delay, but he seemed willing to hear her plan.

Zelda pointed towards the Hyrule Garrison, where a significant portion of their army was stationed. Another three or four Ancient Guardians lay assault upon the fort, which was burning on a smaller scale than Hyrule itself. “We go to the Garrison and rally the troops. We can stop the machines from making it to the Hyrule Exchange, where a significant portion of our food stores are sold. We can also make our way to Passeri Mansion and find out what remnants our ancient’s left us.”

Link was nodding now, even as she reinforced her words with “The Prophecy states ‘the signs of a resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear…’ and the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.’”

Zelda shrugged not quite as confident as she sounded, her idea hinging on a lot of faith that even she barely had. Given that Ganon or the Yiga clan did far more to suborn all the ancient’s guardians, she wouldn’t be surprised if Link didn’t buy it himself. She prayed they’d only managed to activate the dead guardians, not dominate every one of them.

“Then… Prophecy or not, we can make use the soldiers to form an assault to take back the town. By then, the Champions should be in place, yes?”

At least her plan didn’t depend on Link fighting forty guardians alone.

Link sighed, and nodded, getting back to the road. Their horses were nowhere to be seen. Link didn’t bother to call for them, having come to the same conclusion. They needed to run.

Zelda was not a champion of the realm, but she’d been more than a simple passive litter-born princess. She cursed the choice to stay in this dress, when she should have grabbed her pants and shirt from the horse in Kakariko Village. What seemed like a menial waste of time to change became a constant inconvenience. She finally grabbed as much of the gown she could and pulled it up and aside. It slowed her down just a little, but even she could tell Link would rather go at a slower, consistent pace rather than deal with her constant tripping over the hem.

On a better day, Zelda would comment that she wasn’t much worried the impractical gown was ruined, but this was the worst day for such commentary. She saved her breath for running.

Zelda made a noise and paused, as they headed back south along the roads. Link stopped to look at her, waiting as she caught her breath twice to say, “Lets cut off the road here… Straight east from the Whistling Hills... Meet with the road again… Save a few minutes.”

Link nodded and turned to watch the thicket of forests they were about to pass by, like another glowing guardian might hide itself there. Zelda motioned she was ready to run again, and they did.

Link’s suspicions were well founded. Zelda consoled herself that the one advantage to her plan was that the bokoblins and two moblins - lead by a Lynel - were expecting the pair of them to run along the road right into their ambush.

The Zelda knew her role well enough by now that she backed away, watching Link engage the monsters directly. The Bokoblins and Moblins were the work of short order, but the Lionel had stood back and fired arrows at the appointed knight, and one appeared to have grazed Link’s side. Zelda hissed and looked for resources as she realized the only one she had on hand.

While Link defeated the Lionel, Zelda had made strips of her dress, exposing her knees. Link looked like he would refuse the patch. “Don’t even. You still have guardians to kill and if you bleed out before we reach the castle you will just have to hear me say ‘I told you so.’”

Not willing to face this most terrible fate, he let her wrap two strips around his side and tie them tightly. It wasn’t exactly perfect, and her dress was already dirty, but it was better than dying and she could find antiseptic at the garrison. Which was still under attack. They ran again, Zelda having an easier time of it with a shorter gown.

The garrison was under assault by six guardians now, though its clear that the defenders had been able to kill one of the beasts. One of them was halfway to the roof where most of the remaining soldiers seemed to be. Link who went to reinforce the assault from the ground.

Zelda ran for the south side of the garrison, where people were streaming outwards in a near panic. She recognized a fair portion of the people, some from the nearby Exchange, others from Passeri Mansion. Too few from Hyrule Town itself.

Zelda grabbed one of the guards - armed with just a pike and who looked like he wanted to flee with the people himself - and made herself known, “Soldier! Who is… in command here?” She was still catching her breath.

The guard swallowed in shock, “Princess! I-... Delgrid, on the upper walls, ma’am!”

Delgrid was a junior officer, according to what Zelda knew, and two ranks below leading a full regiment of soldiers. Where was the Garrison command? Did all of them die? No time to ask.

“I will be up there. Find me a crossbow and a pair of pants. Link is leading a ground assault on the guardians attacking here.”

He blinked, “Link’s here!?” He sounded like that would be the end of their troubles.

“Soldier! Pants, a crossbow. Now!”

Realizing that she, the royal princess, was giving a direct order, he scampered off. She went up the stone steps of the garrison, finding bodies of fallen soldiers and two or three melted holes in the wall of the building proper, where arrow slits used to be. Who knew the guardians attacks could melt through stone like this?

On the roof and walls proper, there was further sign of destruction, chaos and death. One portion of the building had crumpled over from sustained damage, and another portion of the upper buttressing looked so damaged it might collapse all on its own. There were still a dozen soldiers with bows and spears, trying to fight back one guardian from climbing onto the fort proper, attacking the two feet that clung to battlements.

They were already attacking with renewed vigor, as they shouted, “Champion of Hyrule!” while a shorter, stouter officer shouted near the top of the stairs, “Knock it off the wall! Let it taste the dirt of our fine land!”

Zelda called out to the man, “Delgrid! Status report?”

Delgrid turned to look at her, seeming confused a moment, “Zelda? I didn’t recognize you in a dress! What in Din’s fire is going on!?”

“You’d know as well as I. Ganon is back. Either it - or the Yiga Clan - activated all the dead guardians and they are now assaulting anything that moves. We-”

There was a pinging noise, closer than the ones that were on the ground. The guardian who’d made its way onto the roof. It was about to scream hell-light at Zelda proper, the red beam aimed at her chest.

She broke away from Delgrid, who ducked to the side instinctually, running towards the far edge of the keep, counting in her head, as if she intended to leap off the building itself. Someone screamed “Princess!” as she fell at the last moment, dropping to the ground when the pinging stopped and her death was imminent.

She half-slid/half-rolled into the battlement stone, as a stream of burning hot white light seared her eyes and singed her dresses's front. She could see glowing rock once the glare left her eyes. A bit of molten stone missed her hand as it dribbled downward.

When the light left her eyes and she felt sensible, Zelda looked back to see that one guard had climbed onto the guardian proper and was ramming a royal spear into its main eye, screaming.

Something must have caught, because its main light flickered twice then went dead. Following that, the machine shut down completely. There was a moment before anyone stopped, then there were shouts. The soldier that had climbed aboard it scrambled back down, even as the guardian slid backwards off the escarpment. The brave soldier looked worse for wear but alive.

Zelda was relieved to see he lived, but she didn't have time to celebrate. She limped up to Delgrid and the soldier she’d met below instead, having climbed his own way up. He carried a small crossbow, a set of bolts and a pair of pants. The guard must have dropped his own spear, which was bad form.

Zelda could still hear pinging from the battlegrounds below. She snatched the crossbow from the guard. Everyone looked a mixture of stunned and relief that the machine wasn't on the roof anymore.

The quiver over a shoulder, and Zelda cranked the crossbow’s bow string back as she limped to the battlements overlooking the Passeri meadows.

Zelda surveilled the scene below, where three remaining guardians, a good distance apart, were taking turns firing at the Hero of Courage. He’d practically killed two by himself, but Zelda hadn't been wrong, he wasn't invincible, and he looked tired even now, charging towards the machine with only four legs that seemed to be fleeing his assault.

The one of the other two, the one closer to the Garrison, fired its deadly beam, which Link only just managed to leap over. The one Link ran after gained space and began pinging red.

Zelda loaded the crossbow. She was not a Hero of Time and Courage. As a Hylian princess of poise and Wisdom, she was not allowed to pick up a sword in self-defense. But when Urbosa heard that the Hylians would not let their Vai royalty use a weapon, she was more than a little upset at the idiocy.

Zelda was not as good a shot as someone destined to fight evil directly. She was as good a shot as someone who had something to prove.

The bolt hit the nearest machine’s eye as it recharged. The lens cracked, and its attention turned away from the appointed knight to Zelda. She was already cranking back the bowstring as the red light centered on her chest, slightly refracted and distorted.

Guard behind her shouted for her to duck or move, but none risked the red light of death, but she loaded the next bolt and took aim, even as the red light steadied on her. As the red targeting light vanished, she fired again and dropped beneath the embrasure. White light screamed above her. She had the sense to cover her eyes this time.

When she got back up, already working the crossbow, she shouted, “Their assaults are not random! They time their attacks based on movement! If you stand still or run in a straight line-” a bolt loaded, the red light was back, “-when the red targeting mechanism vanishes, you are dead. Move or change your route when the red light just ends, and you will only feel” -her crossbow raised, she had a beautiful red target to hit- “the heat of its passing!”

She fired earlier this time, and could watch the bolt further crack the guardian’s eye. Something must have connected, because the machine staggered to the side, it's firing sequence thrown off.

Delgrid shouted, “You heard the Princess! Bows forward! Drop when you can't see red and rain hell!”

Zelda fired along with the men and one woman who had bows while Link stalked down the third Guardian. The guards and Zelda finished off their Guardian as Link slew his.

There were more guardians to worry about, but none right here, right now. Zelda took the crossbow with her as she headed to the stone steps downward.

“See to the wounded, get the villagers away from Hyrule, that's where most of the Ancients kept their guardians! Get everyone you can armed and ready. Mobility over armor, no one has the strength to take a blow from one of those things directly except someone blessed by the Goddess.”

Delgrid followed her motioning for the others to heed her advice. “Damn good to not be in charge here. I am glad to hear your trip to Lanaryu wasn't fruitless, my Lady.”

“I was talking about Link,” Zelda said flatly, daring them to ask further. She grabbed the pants and belt from the other guard, who looked more like a pageboy than a professional soldier at the moment. “And you are still in charge.”

She began putting on the pants under her gown - the professional soldiers turned away, for modesty’s sake, of course, during the end of the world.

“Ma’am… but where are you going if not to lead us?

She wished she had her boots, but they were lost on the horse’s pack. the ragged sandals she had would have to do. “I have a task with Link of vital importance at Passeri Mansion, then we will be back to lead an assault on Hyrule and Ganon.”

“The mansion… it's been abandoned…” this was the soldier she'd ordered to fetch her a crossbow and pants.

“All the better, we don't know what will happen when we reach the excavation site.”

Finally, her authority and tone got through to the junior officer, who puffed up and took charge. “You don't question a royal, Seville! Go herd the rest of the villagers south! We need this area clear of targets!” Delgrid had been described as a young officer who’d, in spite of his dramatic persona, seemed to impress his superiors. Zelda did not fault their wisdom yet.

Zelda met Link as they both came to the door. “Do you need anything from the garrison?” Zelda asked.

He shook his head as he looked her up and down. She said nothing as the crossbow rested on a strap over one shoulder, and the refilled quiver the other. Damn was she glad to be back in pants though.

“To Passeri Mansion? Delgrid will organize things here.”

Link nodded and they jogged north. Zelda ignored her bruises from her tumble on the garrison roof. She didn't have the luxury to think about them.

She saw Link look back at her a few times, and on the last, she caught his eye. A glint caught in his eye as he asked, “Urbosa?”

Zelda would have smiled as the road lead to the tall stone mansion itself, but Hyrule burned before her eyes and she couldn't work up the cheer, “Urbosa. She said it was foolish for voe royalty to dictate what their vai can and cannot learn for some fabled and false notion of propriety.”

“Good aim.”

Zelda preened internally at that, glad he didn’t look down upon her. She hadn’t expected him to look down, but still, it was a compliment from the usually quiet Hero.

Passeri Mansion was indeed quiet, and Zelda lead him to where the cellar entrance had been dug out. She filled the hated silence with her voice, “There’s a pedestal inside just like the one north of the Temple of Time. The Passeri nobles had been quite displeased that their wine cellar was to be displaced, under royal decree to dig up the Ancient’s work, but…“ The path lead to a small chamber that had been emptied of old wine barrels and excavated beneath the stone floors. Resting there was a pedestal with a Sheikah Slate receptacle, not unlike the one inside the Shrine of Resurrection, or the pedestal just south of the Temple of Time.

“When I tried the slate for the Shrine of Resurrection, it activated as long as I left the Slate there. The pedestal north of the temple had not.” Neither time, Link was there, which is why she bothered to explain.

This pedestal was designed the same way, arching pavilion above them, made of the nigh indestructible Ancient stoneworks. The stalactite of some purpose, above the installation point where the Sheikah Slate belonged. All dead and dark.

Shoving her misgivings away, she passed the slate to him, “This is Slate, rightly, is supposed to be the Hero’s. I’ve done so much with it… but we can see how much my efforts had wrought.” In the gloom of the cellar, they couldn’t see much, but he knew she meant Hyrule and the return of Calamity Ganon.

As Link took the slate, the tower’s pedestal began to glow orange. “Just like the shrine of resurrection.” This was never her destiny, but Link’s.

She stepped up with him as he approached. An ethereal, mechanical voice spoke, “Place the Sheikah Slate in the Pedestal.” The ancients themselves, speaking.

Link did as he was ordered, and the voice spoke again. “Sheikah Tower activated.”

Zelda blinked, “Tower?”

Apparently, this was tower was nearly a dozen feet under-

“Please watch for falling rocks.”

The earth began to shake, not unlike when Ganon first appeared, and Link and Zelda both huddled under the apex of the pedestal's pavilion.

The Ancient structure began to rise, regardless of the building above it. The sound of crashing stone and wood and domicile around them was deafening even Zelda’s thoughts. Link held his shield above them both.

The building stood no chance, cracking around them like it was no stronger than an acorn shell.

The tower continued to rise above the trashed Passeri Mansion - very distantly, she wondered just how livid Lord Passeri would be - as she watched Hyrule drop beneath her. Other towers also began to rise in the distance and she could even see shrines, glowing in the ancient’s passively waiting orange pattern, litter the land.

Of course, Hyrule Town was what caught both of their eyes.

It still burned as the machines hit targets that neither of them could discern. More than that though, there was a pack of them fanning out from the town and running patrols , back and forth. As if waiting for the inevitable assault by Link, Zelda, and the remaining defenders of Hyrule. The darkness encompassing the Castle Hyrule was nearly too dark to penetrate, but there were infrequent flashes of light there too. Not as many as in Hyrule Town, as if the castle’s defenses were already more than finished.

Link looked at her as she stared at the castle. She wondered if he thought to console her. Was she a terrible person to be more ashamed of her failure to save the people than she was worried about her father’s likely demise?

She was about to speak, when the ghastly form of Ganon seemed to react to their action of defiance. Four sickly beams the color of his evil lanced outward from the dark form of Ganon itself.

The arcing dark energy struck the four divine beasts at once. Zelda gasped as she saw Vah Medoh, nearly about to land, become assaulted by the purple energy. The vast machine abruptly took off again as the energy seemed to lance between the joints and out of the eyes.

“Oh goddess…”

Link was watching the distant elephant Mipha was no doubt inside, as purple energy crackled along it like electricity.

All four were struck with the same energy and all four began to move erratically, angrily.

Zelda barely registered the emotionless voice of the Ancients behind them, something else about the Sheikah Slate.

Ganon had taken the divine beasts, their ace in the hole, and had cut out most of Zelda’s and Link’s main support from under them.


	3. Chapter 3

No divine beasts, Hyrule town lost, Ganon in control of the guardians.

And all they got for their efforts were a set of six or seven towers - that Zelda could see - across the land, and some activated shrines. No discernible effort forward. No sign from the goddess.

At least she was used to being disappointed with all her efforts. Link seemed to sense her distraught state of mind, and grabbed her by the elbow.

She looked at him, angry at first, until she realized he was trying to hand her back the slate. It was on, revealing a large swath of central Hyrule, mapped out in incredible detail. She turned it off and seriously considered throwing it over the tower.

Link spoke, “Down first. Plan next.” His words broke her of her self-despair. Ashamed that she needed reminding that they had more important things to do, she found herself climbing down the tower as Link lead the way. Between platforms, while she waited for him to make progress, she spoke.

“We need to reactivate the Divine Beasts. Help the Champions stop whatever malevolence Ganon hit them with. Goddess, I hope they are alright.” She saw him tense at that implication, and she felt bad herself. “I don’t know what these towers did for us, though they had a guidance stone at the top. Purah’s studies are a little stronger on those than mine. They should unlock features in the Slate itself though.”

When they were nearly at the bottom, the rubble of the mansion a few feet below, Zelda muttered, nearly out of breath, “Damned inconvenient for the Ancients to put us on a tower. What, could they fly?” She ought not be making jokes. She felt ashamed even as she did, given that the circumstances.

At the bottom, there was a small contingent of soldiers, about forty or fifty in rank at various levels of health. Some were using their spears as crutches more than weapons. Delgrid was at the head, waiting for Zelda.

Zelda waved him over and shouted to the soldiers, “Stagger yourselves out, and be on alert. Remember to not panic and wait for the red to vanish!”

Zelda, Link And Delgrid conferred while the men took themselves out of ranks. Zelda swallowed, and given that she was technically the ranking leader her, began to speak, “Ganon is back. We are to consider Hyrule town a loss currently. There are around forty guardians there, and who knows what creatures mounted to defend the town.” Delgrid shook his head not likely wanting to be the rank officer for a mile. Maybe Outpost wasn’t hit yet.

“We need to take back the Divine Beasts. We also need to establish refugee camps. I am thinking that everyone on this side of Hyrule can be held in Gerudo Valley for the time being, while others escape west to Kakariko or Hateno.”

Delgrid nodded, “Makes sense ma’am. Want me to send runners to the various towns and holding in south Hyrule to make it clear? Some may be holding out, assuming that the Goddess will sort this out in a matter of a day or so.”

Zelda nodded, “Yes, but don’t send anyone further north than Mabe Village.” She was more or less admitting that Hyrule proper was lost.

Delgrid nodded, but seemed to want to ask more. Zelda prompted him to speak freely, “Princess, what will you and the Knight Link be doing?”

“We are going to retake the Divine Beasts, starting with Vah Naboris-” Zelda motioned to the south but Link interrupted.

“Vah Ruta.”

Zelda looked at him, confused at first, before saying, “No, Naboris. We need Urbosa and the Gerudo’s assistance to-” She trailed off, as Link pointed towards the south.

“Warrior.” His finger trailed north towards Hebra. “Warrior.” Now towards Death Mountain. “Warrior.” And finally towards the Zora Kingdom, “Healer.”

Zelda swallowed, trying to figure out how to not upset the legendary hero, “Link…” Delgrid looked particularly awkward, “Urbosa is the leader of her tribe. We need support from more than just divine beasts, but also the people.”

Link didn’t look like he wanted to hear it. “Listen, Link, my plan was Urbosa. She's an actual General, to protect the people in Gerudo Valley, then Mipha. She’s… She’s tougher than she looks, and you know that.”

Link eyes were fixed on the mountains beyond, where Mipha and Vah Ruta surely were.

Zelda felt guilty, and maybe she wasn’t thinking straight. It’s not like she was actually a general. She was just trying focus on risk mitigation. “Maybe… Maybe we can… go do Vah Ruta, and recruit the Zora’s to patrol the riverways. They can warn people of trouble far faster than anyone else could…”

Link set his jaw, thinking about it before sighing, he motioned to Zelda “Brains,” and pointed to back to himself, “Brawn… Let’s just not take too much time.”

Zelda nodded and Delgrid smiled tightly, that third person in a tense conversation between superiors, “Great! I will send runners up to Mabe, then find out who is at Outpost Garrison.”

Zelda nodded “And horses. We need a pair of horses that can get us to Gerudo Town fast. Then back to Vah Ruta.” She nodded to Link, who was a little assuaged.

Delgrid nodded, “Leave it to us, Princess, I’ll handle it.”

They broke apart. Link followed Zelda south where they rejoined the road, intending to make it some of the way towards Gerudo Town.

The pair intended to make some progress... until the Sheikah Slate at Zelda’s hip pinged. Pausing, they both examined the device. Aside from the impressive cartography on the map, there wasn’t much to explain why it pinged. They took a few more steps, and she noticed there were more pings, and an indicator on the map.

A few seconds of investigating, she spoke, “It appears to be detecting the presence of something in particular. If I had to guess, this was the sensor feature that Purah had been talking about as a potential endeavor to unlock. It should allow us to locate items… but the sensor appears to be natively tracking something. Let’s just continue along the road to see what’s going on?” She had suspicions but she wasn’t certain, and didn’t want to voice them, after having so recently argued with Link.

Link nodded, agreeable as usual, if seeming a bit impatient.

They went around the bend of Mount Daphnes. As Kaam Ya’Tak came into view, it was impossible to miss the brilliant orange glow it exuded. Zelda took a step towards it and the indicator glowed stronger than before.

Zelda met Link’s eyes. She was a responsible leader of a homeland that was being destroyed. She could control herself. With good measure and no little amount of effort, Zelda said, “It's probably trying to guide us to where the Ancient Shrines are. We don’t have time to explore every mystery.” Zelda gave a tight smile and said, “Let’s go on, shall we?”

Link looked at the shrine, then over the hill at the glowing blue tower. He sighed, looking at Ganon, then back to Zelda. “Prophecy is underground, right?” He knew exactly what she wanted to do. “Come on.”

Zelda followed him to the shrine. In her defense, she did sound a little embarrassed, “No, Link, we don’t have to. I already basically wasted our time with the Tower… I don’t want you to think that I am more interested in ancient technology than saving everyone from Calamity Ganon.” That came out a little more wretched than she intended, an honest statement that she feared everyone expected out of her.

Link looked back at her, a little like she’d said something dumb, “I don’t. We need help. Hopefully Ancients provide.”

Link took the Sheikah Stone as Zelda offered it, and pressed it against the shrine. It reacted and began glowing blue.

The shrine went through a number of color shifts and the barrier - one that had mocked Zelda so many times - folded back and allowed passage. Link stepped forth first and Zelda followed.

As Zelda stepped close to Link, onto the platform ringed in blue light… it turned orange, and the Sheikah Slate chimed disapproval. Zelda’s heart sank.

“Ah… It appears only the hero can enter the shrine. Well… That’s fine.” Zelda did not, and could not, keep the tone  that said that this turn of events was very much ‘not fine’. “I will wait out here for the horses, yes? It seems like that would be just as important.”

She stepped out of the ring of light, which turned blue again. “Take some pictures would you?” She couldn’t ask for him to do much, but it might give her more insight into the Ancient's plans.

“Stay safe,” Link muttered, and descended into the realm of the Ancients.

Zelda turned to face Hyrule again, heading out to the road and watching for horses or trouble, crossbow out and ready. Hopefully whatever the Ancients left behind would be easy to access.

At first, Zelda had considered camping out in the nearby way station, but it looked like it had been hit by a Guardian a few too many times and she wasn’t confident in its stability.

Then the Bokoblins came, chasing a family that looked like they were being lead by a Rito with a burned set of pinion feathers on his left side. Seven Bokoblins - one blue and the rest red - all seemed to have only clubs and one spear, raced after them.

Zelda, not accustomed to being alone in a combat situation, looked around, just in case there wasn't a secret contingent of soldiers nearby to help.

There wasn't.

Zelda sighed and took aim. She was already running away from confronting Ganon head on. She couldn't let people die before her. She was an heir to nothing, not a monster.

The first bolt hit the blue in the chest, knocking him off his feet. She already was cranking the crossbow before the Bokoblins even knew what hit them. She was fortunate they weren't known for their intelligence.

The Rito spotted her first and guided the others into the little alcove hiding the shrine in the shadow of Mount Daphnes.

Zelda reloaded and killed the lead Bokoblins with one shot and began to reload while backing up.

The Rito pulled up to her, shouting to the Hylian family “Go, go! Find somewhere to hide!” Zelda wasn't where he expected, as she backed away from the six still approaching attackers. Another bolt. Five attackers.

“Ma’am, are you alone?”

“M-hm. Right now. At least.” The 'blins were nearly on them, and she really needed to focus.

“Alright. Run with those kids if they take me.”

Zelda didn’t answer, and shot the one goblin with a spear, nearest them.

The Rito grabbed the spear as the three red Bokoblins that were still standing. The blue Bokoblin was a little behind everyone else.

Two goblins leapt at Zelda who scrambled backwards and stumbled over some stone. She yanked back the bow string crank and scrambled for a crossbow bolt.

The two clubs swinging down at her halted her attempt and rolled away. This wrenched the crossbow from her hand, but she got to her feet with a bolt in her hand.

The Bokoblins, which Zelda had watched against Link for months now, became overconfident and sprang into the air as she half expected. She scrambled back a few more feet then ran forward. She shoved the bolt in her hand into the back of one of the things. It was barely a wounding blow, but it was better than nothing. She ran past them, and grabbed the crossbow on the ground as she stumbled forward.

Another bolt and she loaded before the Bokoblins had quite understood where she’d gone. She glanced around, the Rito engaging the red and blue one left over.

Her bolt went into the unwounded near her, who collapsed. The Bokoblin with an a bolt stabbed into his back wailed it’s anger, but it just gave Zelda time enough to load again and fire on blue Bokoblin about to swipe at the Rito’s burnt side.

Zelda, still al little shaky, distracted by missing the lever on the side of the crossbow with her and, got tackled by the remaining red Bokoblin she’d stabbed with a bolt.

Fists battered her until something knocked it off of her. She moved her arms shielding her face, and saw the Rito was panting over her, the broken end of spear in his wings, the other end through the Bokoblin that had been on top of her.

Zelda looked around. All the Bokoblins were dead. Zelda, though a little battered, levered herself up and the Rito dropped the spear to offer his unhurt arm to help her to her feet.

“You alright Ma’am? I hate to point out the obvious, but Ganon appears to have returned, and this area isn’t…” Zelda pulled the hair from her face and she gave him a chagrined smile, before checking over her arms. He must have realized. There weren't many Hylian princesses to confuse her with. 

“Yes, I am unfortunately well aware of the fact. I am…” Zelda paused, trying to figure out how to justify she is initiating combat with Bokoblins in South Hyrule, not fighting her way to her own throne room. “- we are activating the Ancients weapons and going to steal back the Divine Beasts. Ganon has stolen much of our power, we need to regain it.”

It was a good enough speech, though it was half to try to convince herself too. The Rito nodded, not quite convinced, but said, “And the Chosen Hero of Hyrule?”

“He’s performing a reconnaissance mission in the Shrine." She motioned to the orange and blue glowing structure. "You and that family should head to Gerudo Valley. We are stationing soldiers there and planning to work from that point to establish a safe zone.” Her authority came back as she returned to firmer ground, and the pain in her forearms began sink in and ache. They would bruise, she was certain. She checked the crossbow over for damage, as the Rito nodded agreement.

“Will do, Princess.” He paused, “I’m Rokiri, I just came to trade, I’m from Rito Village but… Anyway. Thank you for saving us.”

Princess Zelda waved off the praise, internally glad she could save at least someone. “Do not worry about it, Rokiri. I am sorry your visit to Hyrule has not gone as planned. I plan to make the next one more pleasant, as soon as we handle the pest problem in the castle. Consider yourself invited any time.”

He gave her a strange look, and called out to the hills, “Salwa family! Come on out now!”

A tall but delicate man, along with boys of various ages under thirteen, came out from where they were hiding. They looked bedraggled and tired, like they’d been running for miles. No telling where they picked up those Bokoblins.

“The Princess informs us we should head to Gerudo Valley. There will be soldiers there. Some others from the town may have made it there as well!”

Rokiri herded the family down the road, grabbing one of the clubs, while the boys each took a shield. One of them complained that he wanted a crossbow.

Zelda took a breath and settled some distance from the dead Bokoblins, watching the road and waiting for horses, and for Link.

She spent some time tearing off further strips from her dress to wrap around one scratch on her arm that bled a little. She really needed to disinfect this material and her wounds. She also recollected her bolts, where she could.

The Shrine turned all blue suddenly, and Zelda looked up, surprised.

There was a glowing pillar of light, and Link reappeared at the entrance, looking no worse for wear, but awfully confused. He was also hauling considerably more equipment than he’d started with.

Link held two swords, a delicate but still active Ancient Core, a hunk of diamond, and the most utterly perplexed look on his face that Zelda could have imagined.

Of course, the expression turned grim as soon as he noticed the blood on her hands and the slain bokoblins behind her.

“Most of this blood isn’t mine. A family was being attacked.” She explained quickly, knowing he would need to know, “A Rito named Rokiri helped, but we handled them.”

He stepped closer, having noticed her forearms, which already bloomed purple bruises. He shook his head, not liking it. “I’m fine, I promise. Now tell me what happened in the shrine! Did you take pictures?”

Link shook his head again but offered the Sheikah Slate and she opened it to the album as he set the items on the ground.

Zelda flicked through the images, saying, “Strange. I wasn’t expecting such a large chamber… A guidance stone! Did you unlock any features of the Sheikah slate?”

Link nodded, but Zelda continued to flick through the pictures, looking increasingly befuddled. “What?... a puzzle to open the door? And… spikes? They were moving I assume?” He nodded. “And… some smaller guardians that look hostile…” He nodded again. “And… another stone door puzzle. And… a trap. Oh hey, I’ve never seen an apparatus like that - what did it… oh, another puzzle, another stone door.” Zelda was feeling that there was a bit of a theme here. “And another puzzle… How did you keep the stone platform from flipping when the stone ball hit it?”

Link pulled his shield out, which had an incredible bend in one edge in it, like it had been used to wedge the stone platform. “Ah… Impressive… and now you have a stone battering ram… and another door… How did you… Oh, you just climbed on the wall for this part, clever. And you…” She got to the picture of a desiccated body behind a sheet of blue bars.

“What?” She had no idea. what to think of a dead body. Was the shrine just... a tomb?

Link shook his head, saying, “Said she was Kaam Ya’Tak. Gave blessing, gave me an orb with Hylia seal in it, it absorbed into my body, then she faded…” Link shook his head, no less confused than Zelda, who didn’t understand what this all was supposed to mean.

She looked down at the items he’d gotten from the shrine. Two swords - one steel, the other Ancient made - an Ancient core, and a diamond. “I don’t understand. Why would they give us this? Weapons? Those are shrines designed to help the Wielder of the Master Sword.”

Link shook his head, unable to offer any explanation. Zelda ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated. “This is baffling. Did they not give you anything of substance?”

Link blinked and brightened at that at least, making a small noise and motioning to take the slate back.

She gave it, and he changed the setting from the Camera rune, to something she’d never seen before. “What-” But before she had a chance to ask further, Link angled the slate at the steel sword and activated the slate. A beam of energy locked between the sword and the slate, and he lifted it by simply moving the slate around. She was amazed, even as several controls seemed to allow Link to push and pull the sword back and forth. “Incredible!”

He offered her the slate, which dropped the sword as soon as his fingers let go of the controls. Zelda took it and tried her hand, amazed and befuddled, “This is amazing. No weight, just a slight sense of resistance. The slate is acting as a perfect fulcrum. I should feel something, but it's as if the sword has no weight at all…”

Zelda frowned. “I mean… this is wonderfully academic of course. How is this supposed to help us with Ganon, do you think?” Link had no answers.

Why did the ancients see fit to seal away this power? What good would it do them? Goddess, what a waste of time.

Zelda sighed, “Come on. We should make our way across the suspension bridge. If we are lucky, we will be able to make it to Gerudo Town by… by morning. If we get horses” Zelda realized then that they hadn’t slept since two days ago. She’d spent the previous night praying at the Fountain of Courage, then traveling up Mt. Lanayru to seek out the Fountain of Wisdom.

Zelda suddenly felt the ache in her bones, sighing. “Come on. If you will grab that Edge of Duality, I’ll get the diamond. We can sell them for goods at some point. I don’t think they’ll lend credit to a princess of a lost kingdom.”

Link patted her back. She was exhausted, demoralized, and a little lost.

“Maybe we should go to get Mipha first… none of my other ideas seem… seemed to be good.”

Link shook his head - and had Zelda had more energy, she'd have chided him for grabbing her elbow to steady her - and guided them  back along the road south as Hyrule was eaten by Ganon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s notes: I’ve been taking a few liberties with canon, as you might expect. No, Link/Zelda will not get the ability to teleport. This is a video game mechanic, and incredibly overpowered. 
> 
> I’ve also made it so that Shrines will contain the bare minimum Guidance Stone and rune to finish. Rather lazy of the Ancients to only put guidance stones surrounding the Shrine of Resurrection… Almost as if the ancients were expecting a game designed around a weakened chosen one waking up alone and forced to use the slate at four designated first shrines... Let alone how strange the extra “prizes” are, given that they are intended for the wielder of the master sword.
> 
> Anyway, Kaam Ya’Tak Shrine is a strange shrine because implicitly, you can’t finish it with only Magnesis. I had to spoof the puzzles (and eventually figure out how to get Link to climb on the walls at the battering ram), but the shrine is possible with only Magnesis. 
> 
> Of course, the only real prize in the shrines are those runes you can get at the very beginning…


	4. Chapter 4

Zelda barely remembered the journey across the suspension bridge into Gerudo Valley. It was as if as soon as she tallied the hours of travel and fighting (for her) her mind was doubly insistent to remind her how much she’d been overdoing it. At some point, she realized she’d asked Link the same questions about the shrine twice, and she finally closed her mouth, realizing she’d been simply rambling, not making any real sense.

Link looked grimly serious, but he was always that way when working, considered that Zelda was more or less his job, he was always serious around her. No sense of humor.

She was still certain he hadn’t known if she’d been joking about the frog. He looked over the food that they shared the next few days a little too closely. Or maybe he’d been trying to joke in his own way. Zelda hadn’t ever been able to tell with him.

She was so tired, and her mind wandered strange places.

At some point, Zelda found herself on a horse, which is what brought her to the camp of Hylians and other refugees. There were soldiers standing guard, and a line of tents, as people tried to make sense of it all.

At this, Zelda perked up, gripping the saddle’s pommel hard enough it pinched her palm.

She was a dirty mess, her hair askew, the dress a tattered wreck, and when she looked around panicked, she found the crossbow and bolts hanging from the horse’s side, no doubt put there by Link, who was watching her.

She nodded tightly to him, and he seemed relieved, and went back to watching the entrance into the narrow cliffs that would lead into the deserts they intended to go to next.

“Princess! Are you alright?”

Zelda focused on the short soldier who stood before her, who Zelda remembered - after a few moments of taking in her captain’s uniform and her red hair - was Captain Korgan from Outpost Station.

Almost as soon as she realized, she also knew why she was worried, “Ah, Captain Korgan, no, I am fine. Most of this blood is not mine. Ran into a few Bokoblins. Did Rokiri and the Salwa family make it? Any word from Officer Delgrid?”

Korgan nodded, her sharp eyes and and dark skin watching the bridge behind Zelda, the sun already dipping below the horizon, but the blight above Hyrule castle still glowed its evil enough to remind everyone of what was happening, even if the smoke was harder and harder to see.

“Yes ma’am, we have little more than a couple hundred people here, most from the Exchange and Outpost. We were removed from most of the… assault, and many of the civilians had already fled, the military only moved once we got Delgrid’s orders. He got burned by one of the guardians, too cocky to heed his own advice. He’s in with the medic, but should live.”

Zelda nodded, “Alright. Do we have food enough to spare us something to eat, and a bedroll? We intend to take back Vah Naboris first thing and enlist the Gerudo’s assistance directly.” She looked around, confused, “Where are our troops?”

Korgan, her lips downturned in a sharp frown, said, “We have most of our troops stationed at the entrance to the valley itself. Guardians and… Yiga clan are patrolling in the valley itself, and along Koukot Plateau... They sent a message attached to the corpse of one of our runners we’d sent on a horse. It was one of my men.” Zelda didn’t miss that the soldier’s grip on her halberd tightened.

“The message said that Gerudo Desert was Yiga’s again, in the name of an ancient Ganon’s birthright and they’d kill anyone who came through.”

Zelda swallowed, before smiling, “Well, hearten, because we will teach them tomorrow that one shouldn’t test the mettle of Hylians with their back to the wall. Hyrule’s lived longer than any Ganon.”

Korgan nodded and saluted. “At your command, Princess. I heard the basics of the plan from Delgrid. I’d be honored to fight at your side. Reece!”

A soldier who stood at ease with a bow in hand sauntered over, “Sir?”

“Get food for the Princess and her champion, and round up somewhere for her to sleep.”

“Sir!”

  
Reece guided them to the place where there were several cooking fires and pots, and a merchant group was more than willing to share their food. It turns out that the Exchange had a good deal of time to pack up and head to the valley, which meant of their goods were still available and were being shared freely.

Zelda hadn’t ever eaten food so good, even as it mostly consisted of rice and some local vegetables. She wasn’t really even tasting the food either, though she had enough princess decorum to eat with some sense of dignity. Link ate with his usual gusto. No doubt all that fighting took it out of him as well.

At some point between the small bedroll she’d been offered and the campfire, she’d been confronted by a Passeri noble who asked about rumors that their estate got ruined. Zelda was pretty sure she blamed it on the guardians though her memories of those last few minutes before sleep were nearly as fuzzy as the small stuffed boar she’d found tucked in her arms when she woke next, some time before dawn.

Bemused, she looked at the blue fuzzy boar, perhaps a gift from one of the children in the camp. Looking around, she did not find anything that explained it at hand. Link was blinking himself awake at her rustling, and looked as confused as she was about the boar, though a glimmer of amusement showed in his quirked eyebrow.

Zelda rubbed her eyes and looked around the camp, her body still sore from the day before, but her mind already clicking away, and she felt sick to her stomach with guilt that she tried to sleep away hours while Ganon consolidated power.

Link looked alert already, as she quietly resented his easy rising nature. She put the boar back on her bedroll, not sure where she’d even gotten it and assumed someone else would retrieve it later.

Zelda pushed herself up and found that a guard was walking slowly along the line of sleeping people with a package in hand. None of them looked like they slept well, and a few were disturbed but the passing of the guard. Zelda couldn’t say she slept well herself, but her nightmares were almost a comfortable annoyance.

Ganon already came, it not like they can foretell anything worse.

  
To her slight surprise, the soldier proffered the package to her, and she opened it to find… a proper leather tunic and undershirts, along with another set of guard’s leather pants. She blinked, and the guard, whom she’d never seen before, said in low tones, “There’s a basin set up over there for washing, ma’am. We’d drawn water up from the river to help people feel a little more human. Good for morale.” There was also a strip of leather in the package for her to tie her hair back. Goddess bless someone for thinking straight.

Zelda nodded and thanked him.

By the time she was finished, she felt more alive than she had for… days, really. The axe had fallen. Ganon was here and the Goddess wouldn’t speak to her even from the Shrine of Wisdom. Those sickening days before her final birthday were over. She just had to face her failures head on.

Link met her with a pair of rice balls stuffed with fish. He’d already known she was ready to move forward and waited for her to put the bolts and crossbow over each shoulder. Her forearms still hurt, bruised from the attack by the Bokoblin, and she knew she had a nasty scrape along her knee and thigh from sliding on the roof of the Garrison, trying to avoid the guardian’s blast.

Today, she hoped that Link could do more of that work. His blessing let him heal a little quicker than she.

Along the small pathway beaten to the Gerudo Valley proper were soldiers, patrolling, their eyes both high above and on the red soil of the valley. Zelda could see why. There were bodies of Lizfalos piled here and there along the south side of the road, placed downwind, like they’d been trying to sneak their way into camp and hadn't had much luck.

Zelda was still scrolling through the pictures in the slate from Link’s dive. She didn’t bother with asking Link to enter Jee Noh Shrine nearby, south of where most of the people were camping in the Valley Entrance. He didn’t offer. Even thirty minutes seemed like wasted time enough.

Still, she was trying to understand how these shrines were designed, and why. As they approached the narrows of Gerudo Canyon, Link motioned to get her attention. He pointed to a spot on the ridge where two people watched them from above, red and white masks on their face.

She put away the Slate as soon as she realized that he was worried about Yiga Clan spotting her and targeting her.

Zelda wasn’t afraid of the Yiga Clan, per se. Not in the same sense that she feared the Goddess, or the way she used to fear failure. Those were facts. The Clan was more of a possibilty, and the uncertainty was a different kind of uncomfortable.

The Yiga clan had come the closest to killing her outright. She had no idea what the legends would do if she died at their hand. She’d given warning to Impa and Purah and Robbie to deposit her in the Shrine of Resurrection if something happened, but none of them would hear it when she tried to make it clear she was serious.

It seemed unwise to not have contingencies, Zelda thought.

Zelda met Korgan a few dozen yards away from the narrows of the valley itself, She looked as severe as she had earlier, with a dozen soldiers with her, with a mix of tower shields and spears or bows. One soldier carried a crossbow like Zelda.

“Princess, Knight, We’ve watched and counted their numbers over the night. We know of at least three Guardians in the Valley, and about eight different Yiga clan sharpshooters, all on Koukot Plateau, by our last count. Our biggest problem is how narrow our navigation range is, and with arrows raining down upon us as we push through the valley...” Korgan shook her head and sighed, “I know you want to get to Gerudo Town very much, Princess, but…”

Zelda nodded, seeing the predicament, though not quite willing to give in outright. “Is there any way for us to get onto the Plateau itself?”

Korgan shook her head, “Not without serious climbing gear. There used to be support structures and pathways up the cliffs for mining purposes but they burned out all but the highest tier, which they patrol.”

Zelda glanced at Link, who was distracted by watching the cliffsides. He could likely scale the cliffs alone, but that might still take an hour or two, which, if the Yiga clan noticed, would lead to him being a sitting duck for arrows. It’s not like he had one of those recently invented paragliders coming from Hylians out of Rito Village.

Zelda caught Link’s eye and wondered what he thought.

Link looked at the valley, then back up the cliff sides. “Dangerous. Large group would be fish in barrel…” He looked around, shaking his head, “Our blonde hair...”

Zelda got it immediately. They looked like the princess and her royal appointed knight. Why not just make sure they were pincushions first thing?

“True…” Zelda wondered if they wouldn’t better be served by just going to Mipha first. Inevitably, she should have just assumed her plan was the worst one. It hadn’t worked out for anyone yet, at least.

“Link, what if we head back and change into guard uniform, full helms and all, while someone else in the camp takes our clothing? They’ve seen us, yes, but it's not like they have a Sheikah Slate. They can’t be seeing too much detail at this distance.” Link watch her seriously, which she appreciated immensely. “Then eight or so soldiers, staggered out, two in front to engage the Guardians, the six in back with bows and crossbows to counter-fire. I’ll hide among the bows, you with the front guard.”

Korgan mused, while remaining still, “I’ve got a pair of riders who can keep a few horses calm in the firefight, though they are no marksmen. The best you can hope for is covering fire, and the Yiga have all the advantage.” She seemed to not want to give any motions that the watching Yiga could interpret.

Zelda took her lead and shook her head vehemently and threw up her arms. Her voice was as calm as before, “Link will need to keep the Master Sword at bay, it's as flashy as his hair, but he’s as handy with the standard short sword.” She pointed at the valley directly, pantomiming something she wasn’t saying, “Do we have an undamaged shield he could use?”

Link moved to step in front of Zelda and pointed back the other way, catching on to her ruse. Hopefully the Yiga Clan would assume they didn’t intend to go into the valley. Hopefully there were a few guards that could take their clothing and act as if they were the princess and the champion, waiting in the camp.

“Absolutely princess. Do you mind if I take front guard with the champion? I’ve got a second captain who’s frankly better at managing civilians than I am.” Korgan was well regarded in the army for her stern demeanor and forthright assessment. Zelda agreed immediately, and Korgan asked another question, this more speculative than the previous ones. “Where did you get that black blade?”

They retreated back to the camp while they discussed the plan. Zelda would occasionally make exasperated gestures, to keep up the ruse and eventually stormed off into a tent where guard’s clothing waited her, helm and all. It was a good thing that there were a few guards around that wore the same clothing.

Waiting in the tent was the Salwa family father, who had long blonde hair, not unlike Zelda’s own. She was surprised, but not upset that the man was willing to play the role. She promised that he’d have two guards shadowing him at all times.

He was just glad he could help out somehow in the fight against Ganon. He thanked her for saving his children, too. Zelda swallowed back a bitter self-recriminating response - glad for the appreciation, upset at how many others she couldn’t save in Hyrule - and put on the guard helm. He took her clothing and styled his hair in the fashion she had, taking her jeweled hair adornments with it.

He promised to keep them safe, but frankly, she wasn’t too worried about a few gems at this point. She just asked him to sell the jewels to help his family get back on their feet. It was the least she could do, as she was about to ask him to play decoy near assassins bent on killing her and Link.

Link found a Hylian guard who could fit into his clothes. Her hair had to be cut to look the part, for which Zelda felt bad, but it didn't actually look bad.

Helmed and armored, Zelda and Link went with two other soldiers to meet again at the mouth of the valley. Korgan and three soldiers waited for them, the black Edge of Duality at her side.

The blade was far too big for Link, and it was almost too big for Korgan. For all that Korgan looked like a Gerudo woman, she was still shy of two meters tall. It was well known in the guard services that anyone who compared her to a Gerudo to her face often woke up with a black eye, if they were lucky. She was raised by a family in Hyrule town, and had been part of the town guard for nearly two decades now.

The horses and their riders were among those waiting with Korgan.

Zelda briefed them on the plan, on how to stagger the Guardians, and when to dodge their blasts. They were going to have two archers stick to Korgan and Link in front while two more watch over the horse riders in the back. The horses couldn't really dodge searing lances of light.

Link coordinated it so that Zelda was in back with the horses. She suspected that it was so that she could escape on horseback should things go belly up, but she wasn’t going to argue in front of the others.

Fighting the Yiga Clan was not much like fighting guardians or bokoblins. Zelda found that she preferred when they teleported. She had time enough to aim and launch a bolt into their not quite substantiated form. They were more intelligent than to do it a few times however. For the most part, it was a game of cat and mouse, as the group dashed from bits of cover to cover, trying to get through the valley. Link and Korgan took down the two guardians they’d seen, and everything seemed to be working out well enough, though the other archer covering the horses with Zelda took an arrow in the foot, and needed to lean on her for support while they moved.

It was the narrows where they were halted.

There was a bend in the valley, just past where the scaffolding ended. Beyond it, three guardians waited, two clutching the rock walls, vertically placed well outside both sword and bow range. Between the Hylians and the guardians was a small wall built from boulders, likely ones pulled from the once iron rich walls of this very canyon.

There was practically no place to dodge the laser blasts in the tiny narrow space, and trying to climb the boulders would mean their death.

Luckily, there was no scaffolding nearby for the Yiga Clan to fire down at them from below, but from the echos of cackling behind them, the clan knew what trap they'd been setting. No wonder they weren't too worried about the progress the eight of them had made. Even now, she could hear more boulders fall behind them, trapping them in Gerudo Valley.

One of the Hylian guards cursed under their breath. They’d realized too. And it was only a matter of time before some of the Yiga positioned themselves above them, and played pin the arrow on the guard. This had been a bad plan. Zelda may have killed them all. The guards weren’t looking to her for a solution, but stared at Korgan and Link.

Zelda looked at the path before them, thinking it would have been just better to throw herself at Ganon and leave Hyrule to the goddess and Link. They’d have made more progress at least at that point. And the Ancients just left their goddess damned tombs every-

Zelda’s eyes locked on the iron studded bolder in the pile before them, just around the corner towards the guardians.

She glanced around and found no Yiga clan watching them yet, before pulling the Sheikah slate from where she’d been hiding it under her armor. A few flicks, and she activated the Magnesis rune, her vision overlaid with magenta while the magic trickled through her. The oxidized iron bolder was a bright pink, out of reach but a possible target if she ran up to it.

Link looked at her with surprise and understanding. She asked, “You said there was no sensation of weight, right? You think I could push those other rocks out of the way with the iron one in front?” Then she’d knock the two guardians from the wall, if the plan worked.

Link nodded, looking up for Yiga as well. He put away the short sword, damaged and nicked, and drew the Master Sword from where it was wrapped on his back. The canvas covering the legendary blade fell away.

Korgan looked at Zelda, confused, “What are you going to do?”

Zelda smiled tightly, “Rely on a gift from the ancients. I am going to knock the boulders out of the way. Bows everyone else, Link will lead the charge. Horse riders, wait for an opening and bolt for the others side.”

Zelda ran forward and continued to run forward even as the boulder turned yellow in her vision. The slate’s hum wasn’t enough to drown out the pinging lasers bearing down on them, and even as she shoved the iron boulder through the blockade, like they were nothing more than air-light.

Link raced ahead, taking the opening while also watching the timing of the blasts of light.

Zelda decided to curtail one blast by shoving the iron ball into the nearest guardian that had planted itself partway up the vertical wall, just as the red light went out. The recoil of light and impact of the iron ball were enough to knock the guardian off the wall, onto its side.

The other two fired on Link, who dove out of the way, conveniently underneath the legs of the one on the ground.

Zelda, amazed at the lack of any feedback on her end, moved into bash the other guardian stuck to the wall to dislodge it.

At this point Korgan had dropped her bow again and went in with the Edge of Duality, their strategy surprisingly effective all at once.

Beyond that, it was just a numbers game, though Link did nearly lose an arm when a stray blast of light singed it.

While Zelda had seen him take a worse beating from a Lynel who’d been particularly good with his bow not two months ago, she was sincerely worried about him as he shook off the distinct sense of smoking leather armor.

The horse riders didn’t even have to run through the guardians, they were all dead. Zelda put up the Sheikah Slate, but behind her she could see that a single Yiga Sharpshooter watched them move past the guardians. He could no doubt see her Slate and the Master Sword in hand.

Well, hopefully they wouldn’t waste time trying to kill the father pretending to be her in the camp, once they realized Princess Zelda made it into the Gerudo desert.

The eight of them, even the one with the damaged foot, made it to the burnt husk of a stables at the valley mouth. The smell spooked the horses, but a small side building was good enough to patch up wounds in. Zelda did not look for any bodies, but that didn't mean there weren't any.

“Are you six going to be able to make it to the Kara Kara Oasis alright without horses?” Zelda asked Korgan, as she stood watch over the valley behind them. Zelda suspected that Korgan, who had a notoriously dismissive attitude towards the Gerudo, wouldn’t want to step into the sands proper.

Korgan shook her head. “No ma’am. I was planning on circling back around, to take the Yiga sharpshooters on hand to hand. Even with Marcus limping, we have a better shot than trying to shoot up a cliff face to get back and you will need to return back through the valley at some point, princess.”

Zelda nodded and looked at Link, who was eating a small bit of smoked meat they’d gotten from the camp before. He looked a little guilty as he did so, like she might chastise him for being hungry.

Zelda waved off his offer of a bite, not able to eat after so much action and running herself, and calmed her mount.

Once the soldiers were situated, both Link and Zelda got on their horses and rode towards Kara Kara Oasis. Even from their position, it looked like Gerudo Town was under some sort of assault by a sand storm filled with the occasional flickering of lightning.

Zelda’s guess turned out to not be so wrong. Kara Kara Oasis and Bazaar was packed with people. There were a few of the stranded male merchants that Zelda had come to expect, but they were the vast minority. It looked like half of Gerudo Town was there, along with the usual merchants that must have been trapped in the desert.

Zelda and Link didn’t get a chance to get too close, as they were stopped by a Gerudo wearing the typical guard outfit, who looked like she was frightened enough to attack them on sight, “H-Halt!” The spear was long enough to skewer the horses from front to back and then some, but the tip shook like a leaf in the wind, “T-take off your helmets! If you are Yiga thugs, I will run you through myself! And we have two archers waiting to take you down too!”

The woman, while obviously shaken, was still an eight foot tall trained warrior of the Gerudo. And it wasn’t like Zelda intended to hide her identity.

After her helmet was removed, she spoke, “Sav’aaq, soldier. I am sorry to have startled you.” Zelda took her hand off the pommel of the saddle to push hair out of her face. “I am Princess Zelda.”

The soldier gulped, and pulled the spear back abruptly, “O-oh Princess, I am sorry. I didn’t rec- We’ve been under- Urbosa, she’s-” The soldier swallowed, and stood at attention, trying to re-grip her composure. “I- I’m sorry, Princess. Gerudo Town is under attack by the Yiga Clan, who have apparently suborned the Divine Beast into throwing sand and lightning into the town. Most of the civilians have been evacuated to here, while our head-of-command figures out what to do.”

“We’ve come to help Urbosa tame her Divine Beast. Link is with me here as well. How can we meet up with the head of command, and arrange an assault on Vah Naboris?”

“Ahhhh, well, Princess, we had sent some runners to go for help to Hyrule, but we were expecting… ah, the Hyrule guard.”

Zelda felt her mouth go into a flat line, and looked behind her towards Hyrule. She swallowed and said, “Right now, all of Hyrule and the surrounding lands are under assault by Ganon. Hyrule itself can’t spare more than to protect its own people right now.”

Zelda didn’t mention that any Gerudo runners through the valley may very well have never made it to the other side.

“Where is your head-of-command, soldier? We need to get that Divine Beast tamed.”

The woman swallowed, and pointed past the Oasis, towards Gerudo Town, obscured in sand and lightning and the vague figure of Naboris hidden inside it all, “Back there, Princess.”

“Alright. Into the storm, we ride next.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

It turned out they were not going to be heading to to the sandstorm alone. After getting past the nervous guard, they were taken to a small contingent of Gerudo warriors who were packing up large sealed containers. Zelda could see now that the barrels were being filled by some teen Gerudo straight from the Oasis.

The sandstorm had apparently so clogged the spring that fed water to the Gerudo Town, that it was nigh undrinkable. The Gerudo had already shipped water for the morning, but needed to load up water for the evening as well, to make sure the soldiers in the town wouldn’t dessicate while fighting the waves of Yiga that seemed desperate to get into the town proper.

Things had gotten bad enough that all non-military citizens were evacuated. The Yiga more or less let them leave, content to continue to try to take Gerudo Town.

Apparently even the leader of the Yiga was there, lobbing electrified, spiked boulders into the town upon every circuit of the divine beast. One of the Gerudo described that one of these orbs hit a different part of the water reservoir and electrified it, too dangerous to touch. Zelda didn’t quite believe her - that wasn’t how electricity worked in her experiments with it - but there was no doubt that the Ancient’s powers and magic had incredible bounds, the same well of power the Yiga used. All one had to do was take a look at any of the divine beasts to know that normal rules didn’t apply.

Right now, Zelda was having an argument with the highest ranking officer of the Gerudo at the oasis, a Lieutenant. The officer was overseeing the water collection and was planning on bringing the water back to Gerudo Town that evening.

“He will not be able to come into town.”

“There isn’t going to be a town for long if you don’t let him help.”

“Princess, I don’t know where you think your jurisdiction ends, but you are not the one dictating policy. Unless Lady Urbosa herself comes down and tells me personally, then I won’t-”

“Lady Urbosa probably inside the Divine Beast at this moment, and could use the help! But you want to leave Hyrule’s best warrior outside the walls to chew sand while we figure out how to save your leader!”

The lieutenant, Naboori - no doubt named after the very same legendary divine beast well before Zelda unearthed it - smiled with patience that did not reach her eyes. Zelda knew she’d lost her temper - and the argument - and restrained the urge to sigh in frustration before the other woman even started, “Princess, warm your heart that I am even letting you join us in this fight. The Yiga are already trying to infiltrate the city with men. We do not need to spend time trying to identify friend or foe among the voe as well.”

Zelda offered a cold smile herself, “As you state, then.”

Link walked up to their conversation, having been politely hovering on the edge of Zelda’s periphery, waiting for the conversation to reach a point he could interrupt. He held three bowls, one expertly balanced on his forearm. He offered one to Naboori, who eyed it with suspicion. The bowl appeared to have some stew in it, mostly mixed vegetables, but there may have been some red meat of some kind. Zelda ought to be grateful, her hip still hurt and her stomach growled for food, but some portion of her wanted to refuse food until they saved Urbosa, like it would somehow help to fight on an empty stomach.

The lieutenant looked a bit like how Zelda felt, though with a little more distaste for the Hyrulian champion. Naboori eventually sighed and took one of the bowls. “We will be happy to escort you, and maybe he can protect one of the entrances during one of their waves of assaults. You can take your plans to the officer in command at the town, Sanjo. She is the one wielding the Thunder Helm in Urbosa’s absence.” Naboori nodded to them, and went over to help organize the caravan planning.

That would have to do then. They’d need the helm to get close to the Divine Beast anyway. Zelda began to ponder what kind of argument that would broker as she took a sip of the soup. Blinking, she paused and looked at Link. “It’s cold?”

He gave a small smile, as if hoping for this reaction, “They cook it, then use ice to cool.” He took a drink himself, apparently relishing the cold soup. Zelda did feel it had a certain appeal, given the sun bearing down on them. The Hylian Armor she had was more than a little hot and sticky, and she’d forgotten to pack something lighter to change into when they broke through to the desert.

“Should have known you’d wandered off to go find food.” Once it was clear that they weren’t leaving the oasis immediately, Link had set off on his own. Zelda’s comment was in jest, and she was rewarded by a look of mock wound.

He motioned around camp, “Patrolling.” There was a pause as his eyes wandered, but it was the kind of pause that Zelda had learned that he intended to continue talking, “Most guards here are conscripts, militia.” Zelda thought to the woman who’d almost dropped her sword in fear as they approached.

Zelda picked up where he was going, “If the Yiga take Gerudo Town, these people will be helpless.” Link nodded, and she was gratified that she caught onto his intent. There were nearly three hundred people here, most of them civilians and children, unsure of when they could go home.

She nodded, “Well, then, I guess we need to break the siege. You probably won’t be allowed in the town. You can probably set up guard outside, however, as I negotiate. There’s also a shrine outside of Gerudo Town, but I don’t know what good it would do to find more tombs…”

They’d already walked past a couple shrines in Gerudo Valley, causing the Slate to chime at her. She ignored it with the task of helping Urbosa first in her thoughts.

Magnesis had come in handy, but Zelda wasn’t up to trying to cajole Link into looking at every shrine. There were nearly ninety she knew of, some locked away underground. If they needed to explore them all to beat Ganon, they had more problems than missing one or two along the way.

Link nodded, and she enjoyed the cool soup while it remained so in the afternoon heat. Link patrolled the outside of the camp a couple more times as Zelda was approached by several Hylians, interested in what was happening outside the deserts.

By the time they gathered their things again for the ride to Gerudo Town, the sun was beginning to set. Zelda swallowed, realizing that this would be the second full day of Ganon’s reign over the land, and she’d barely made any progress. She should have taken that nap like Link had suggested.

Her limbs, all of them exhausted from the fighting and work, but she resolved to walk with the caravan. Taking the horses into the desert further wasn’t really feasible, especially since the Naboori told them that the horses would have to haul their own water.

The caravan headed towards Gerudo Town just as the massive column of sand, wind, and Divine Beast approached the walls of the town in the distance. By the time they got there, the Divine Beast should be past the town again.

The journey wasn’t long, but it was hard, as the Gerudo women set a hard pace and were quite a bit taller than they two Hylians.

Zelda wasn’t sure they were going to even take a break, and was about to ask, when Link perked up. Zelda noticed the tell-tale collection of red mana and seals that indicated Yiga warriors, just as Link shouted “Hyaaa!” as an alarm. Link was already among them, but Zelda shouted anyway, “Yiga! To arms!” As she did, Naboori shouted in Gerudo.

Her crossbow was up, catching one of the larger vanguard Yiga in the chest, before he could cut down a water bearer.

His eyes flashed to her and there were several adrenaline fueled moments where she had to dodge his thrown spells of earth and wind while reloading her weapon and distracting him. He wouldn’t go down, and matters worsened when one of the Yiga archers started to fire at her too, pre-empting all attempts to fire back, as she ducked among the rolling hills of sand.

Zelda survived, like she usually did, by depending on others to save her from her own ambitious goals as Link and Naboori engaged her attackers. The rest of the Yiga were taken down by the Gerudo soon after, once the Gerudo had a few moments to organize. It didn’t hurt that Link had ruined their surprise assault.

After the ambush, they did take a break, if only to check on the few people who had taken blows and arrows.

They didn’t linger long, and they left the dozen of Yiga bodies behind. Naboori took their weapons, either as trophies or to prevent them from being reused, Zelda was too tired to ask.

While the wind was still a little choppy from the passing of the Divine Beast, by the time they were close to the Town, the air had grown dark and chill, and Zelda was glad for the layers of clothing she wore. Link was hovering close to her, as if she were going to collapse. She didn’t have the energy to wave him away. She wasn’t dead tired, she couldn’t afford to be, but she wouldn’t mind sitting down soon.

Zelda nearly jumped as tall as a Gerudo when her Slate suddenly started to chime. The Shrine. She’d nearly forgotten. It must be reacting to Daqo Chisay Shrine. Link politely held back an outright laugh, but his smile was more than enough. She studiously ignored it, detached the slate, offering it to Link. “If there isn’t any fighting going on, would you mind checking on the shrine? I will refill your water skin and bring it out to you as soon as I can.”

He nodded, and took the slate, securing it to his own hip.

Naboori approached when the chiming had began, and watched with interest. “What is the Voe hero going to do at the shrine? It started glowing as the Divine Beast began to go mad.”

“The shrines have been activated by the Hero about that same time, it was..” - goddess, had it only been a day ago? - “about this time yesterday. At that time, we also saw Ganon send his evil towards the Divine Beasts. We… we were lucky. Had we charged into Hyrule Town, we’d have been beset by fifty or more Guardians, and without the Divine Beast’s help…” Zelda wasn’t sure that they couldn’t have handled it, she was just afraid they wouldn’t. Link was the Hero, after all. Maybe they should have tried to save people in the town… But Zelda could only remember looking at the already burning ruin of Hyrule Town and knew in her heart they’d have had no real chance.

Naboori frowned, “Wait… you are here, to save Urbosa and the Gerudo, rather than focusing on your kingdom first?”

Zelda felt her gut plummet far harder than anything else since they’d first seen Hyrule Town, and the Castle. Zelda tried to hide it, but it was clear Naboori saw how her words cut the princess worse than any wound yet, “Hyrule was lost in a fell swoop, Naboori. We… Ganon reactivated all of the Guardians buried beneath Hyrule. There might be a hundred patrolling Central Hyrule right now. We destroyed five in the valley coming here, alone.” Zelda shook her head at Link, who looked like he wanted to offer a hand of comfort, “What remains of Hyrule we can try to salvage… but we need the help of our sister nations and their Divine Beasts to make give any of us a chance. Urbosa’s an incredible leader, one I aspire to. I just hoped she’d help protect the refugees of my land while Link and I went to help the other Champions.”

Zelda probably should have been more devout to her own father’s form of ruling, but that relationship has been sour for a long time. She wondered if her father was even alive.

“I… see.” Naboori said, as they came up to the walls of the town. “I am honored you came here to help us first, Princess. The Goddesses do still smile upon the Gerudo then. And... it looks like Sanjo repelled the fighting from this wave already. She will be glad to see the weapons we’ve collected to show our own success.”

Zelda wiped her face, again swallowing down her self-pity and remorse. It didn’t do any of the dead Hylians any good if she gave up while their family members still lived. She told herself that, anyway, even as she hated herself for trying to justify abandoning her kingdom. Justified or not, she needed to not cry right now. She needed to meet with Sanjo, something she was not looking forward to.

She motioned for Link to go ahead and make his way to the shrine if he wanted. He looked like he was still worried about her, but she was already steeling herself for doing her job and convincing Sanjo to help.

While other members of the army met them at the main gates, everyone paused to watch the Sheikah Shrine shift from orange to blue as Link activated it.

Naboori gave a brief overview of what had happened, while the other Gerudo reported how the town had fared while the caravan was collecting water and food.

Zelda didn’t think they knew she could speak Gerudo, so she spent the time composing herself, brushing the hair that had escaped from her ponytail from of her face and straightening her clothing. She assumed Naboori would get to her eventually.

Apparently the assault on Gerudo Town had been especially vicious about four hours ago, but this sundown assault had been a shorter lived battle, with more “storm boulders” than fighters. Zelda hadn’t quite figured out what these storm boulders were, but assumed they were related to the electrified ballistics that had been described to her at the Oasis.

No one challenged Zelda at the town gates, but Naboori did warn them of Link, describing him for the entrance guards and saying that he should be considered non-hostile but that he would stay outside the town.

Zelda saw Sanjo striding through the town before Urbosa’s second saw her. Sanjo was wearing the Thunder Helm, for one thing, but it was also hard to mistake the Gerudo’s lighter skin and wide stature for anyone else. Sanjo moved with a purpose everywhere she went, as far as Zelda could tell, and right now was no different. It was almost disarming, but there were plenty of other indicators that things were terribly amiss in the Gerudo Town.

There were only guards and soldiers around, and there were limited numbers of torches lit. The marketplace was completely shut down and all the buildings were boarded closed in preparation for a sandstorm, and, with that point, there was sand everywhere. This might sound redundant, they were in the desert, of course, but Gerudo Town was well designed and kept most of the sand outside. Right now, the ground was covered in two or more inches of sand everywhere, but for patches that showed the paved ground beneath. Sand piled up in the corners nearly three or four feet, and the fountain in the center of the town was more a bed of damp silt and sludge.

Zelda did not miss that the building Sanjo was walking away from - owned by a potter if Zelda remembered correctly - had a massive spiked steel ball lodged into its front, nearly nine feet in diameter, taller than most Gerudo. The building front was so damaged and smoldered, Zelda wondered if the structure could even be saved, with half the roof relying on the steel ball to hold its weight.

Sanjo was not alone, either, as she had a retinue of six soldiers on high alert. Clearly, they expected that if trouble were to hit, it would strike at Sanjo herself.

The princess hailed the current Gerudo leader in polite deference, as was expected, though Sanjo herself didn’t appear to be all that concerned with niceties. “Princess Zelda, what in the goddess’s name happened to your Divine Beast? Two days ago, the sky outside the deserts turned black. Urbosa ran through town and claimed Ganon had returned, and no sooner had she gotten into the Divine Beast, was it assaulted by black energy, followed by a massive assault on our town by the Yiga. Explain this to me now, and why we Gerudo are under assault by enemies of the Sheikah!” Naboori did not follow, seeming to find duties elsewhere with unloading the caravan.

Zelda could not contain her sigh, even as she tried. Sanjo never much liked Zelda. “Sanjo, Ganon has returned and taken the heart of Hyrule itself, and has activated all the guardians, and turned them against the citizenry. Hyrule Town is all but ash, and was so before I could even return to save my people. The rest of the Hylians of the central plains are refugees. We saw that Ganon had usurped the Divine Beasts. Rather than throw myself and Link into the crucible that would be fighting Ganon alone, we decided to wrest control of the Divine Beasts back first. We’ve started here, because we were close, and I hoped that Urbosa would then be able to help my people.” Zelda took a breath, taking ownership of everything, “I have no idea why the Yiga are attacking Gerudo Town. Given their ties to Ganon, maybe they want to reclaim some of the fiction that once Ganon hailed from the Gerudo.”

Zelda knew the Gerudo hated that old legend, and she herself didn’t like it. It fostered bad blood and faith between Hylians and the Gerudo for no reason. Even if there was some truth to the fable, there were also fables of close advisors, shadow kings, and mirror worlds that cause just as many of the catastrophes in the world.

Sanjo was unmoved. Zelda would like to imagine that it was hard to tell what her mood was, given the helmet. Zelda didn’t need to see her face to know the look the Gerudo must be giving her.

“So I suppose you are here to beg assistance for your pet toys going haywire as a Hylian evil and Hylian foes assault the Gerudo?” Zelda knew Sanjo very well. Sanjo loathed Zelda.

“Well, when you put it that way, I suppose you are implying I won't get much help if even I do beg.” Zelda paused a moment to reign in a little of her own acid, to ask politely. “What assistance will you allow me? We need to climb into Vah Naboris, Sanjo, to help Urbosa.”

Sanjo shook her head, “Not possible. Anyone who approaches the Divine Beast is struck by lightning from the storm. And before you ask, no. You shall not get the helm from me. I need it to discharge the storm spheres. In fact,” a gesture from her to her followers to continue moving, “you are keeping me from my task.” Sanjo walked passed Zelda, back towards the exit of the town.

Zelda nodded, her hands clenched at her side to keep them from shaking as she asked, “What are these storm spheres? Are they related to the ballistic that had hit the potter’s shop?” Perhaps changing the subject would help.

Sanjo gestured assent as Zelda scurried to catch up behind, feeling abruptly like a young child hanging after an older sibling. “The Yiga’s leader is atop the Divine Beast. He’s been summoning metal spiked boulders and, when Vah Naboris’s lightning strikes them, the storm stays in them for hours. Long enough the next round of archers to use them to create spontaneous lightning arrows.” Her cold matter-of-fact tone did not hide her anger, “We lost six soldiers in that fight against your enemy, Princess.”

Sanjo barely spared a glance for Link, waiting patiently, as they made it to the entrance. The shrine had turned completely blue, but he looked disappointed, with a new weapon opposite the sheathed Master Sword on his hip, that looked like a long-sword-sized double-bladed tuning fork. He fell in step behind Zelda, her own retinue standing alongside Sanjo’s eight-strong soldiers.

“They aren't my enemy, Sanjo. They are the servants of Ganon. They are everyone’s enemy.” They went around to the south side of the town, though Zelda wanted to ask Sanjo to stop, to just face her.

“They are former Sheikah, Princess. We Gerudo have purged our world of bad practices and outside influences, where possible, but now we must deal with your mess. But you dragged Chieftain Urbosa into your scheme and-”

“Damn it! Sanjo, this isn’t about me!” Zelda yelled at her, the first time she’d ever snapped at the Gerudo. “I now just want to save Urbosa from my failure, I just want to save everyone I can from Ganon!”

They turned the corner and there was another of those spiked balls, but this one crackled with electricity. The boulder would have been half buried into the sand, if the sand around it hadn't become glassy and solid from the heat of electricity. Zelda would have spent a few moments considering the phenomenon, but her attention was suitably elsewhere.

She continued as if Zelda had not just shouted, “Princess, you did not need to drag my mother into your scheme to run from your destiny.” Sanjo strode straight up to the huge orb, flickering orb and placed her hand on it. After flash and snap of arcing lightning between the sphere and Gerudo, the steel ball went dormant. Zelda could see two or three more dormant steel orbs, as well as gouges in the city walls from other assaults in the past few days.

Sanjo continued, “Now our chief may very well be dead inside that beast you woke up. She was put at risk by taking in your big ideas. I now just struggle to defend my home.” She turned to look at Zelda. “You caused this, you ask your goddess to seal away your problems, like all the legends did before.”

“Sanjo, the Goddess doesn’t care about me. I’ve never her her voice, not once. Whatever the Legends say, I am no one’s chosen.” Zelda felt the hot tears stream down her face, but she needed her voice to remain calm. “No one wants to right this more than I do. Ganon will kill everyone if it can. Flooding the world, scorching the land with Guardians… Sanjo, I only ever wanted to prevent this. Now I can only struggle to fix it. Even your mother only spent time with me out of pity. She was brilliant with Vah Naboris, barely needed anything from me. She humored me, because she knew I had nothing else but the Ancients.” A thought - sudden, sharp - and she couldn’t seize it before it bubbled out from her lips, “Sanjo, your mother, she never saw me as hers. You are her only child, I am- I was just a stray, a project that she helped, and I never saw her as my-”

Zelda’s eyes were not fast enough to catch everything. There was sudden motion and then Zelda saw Link in front of her, but knocked to one knee. He held his face and Sanjo stood before both of them. Zelda swallowed, though a small heave kept it from giving any relief. She was afraid Sanjo would try to hit her again, but she wouldn’t blame the Gerudo if she did.

Zelda just accused the daughter of Urbosa of being envious of a useless Hylian princess. Zelda had strained to hold that back, struggled not to laugh or cry at the hideously stupid idea.

As Link stood back up, Sanjo’s voice spoke as evenly as Zelda’s had, though without tears to betray the lie. “You will be provided rations and material if you need it and it does not come out of our vital stores. You shall not get the helmet. You woke that beast, you helped tame it once. You figure out how to stop it. If you need more answers, ask Naboori.”

Zelda nodded, not trusting herself to say anymore.Sanjo strode away, not interested in any discussion.

The Gerudo walked off. Zelda shuddered, and ask, “Link, I am sorry. Are you alright?”

He gave her a look that acted as his silent dismissal of her worry. His face had a red mark along it. It looked painful on Link. Zelda wasn’t sure it wouldn’t have knocked her out. He looked more concerned for her than himself.

“Sorry, Link. I… should have known better.” A second apology in as many sentences. At least one of them should have gone to Sanjo for insulting her. No wonder the Goddess has no interest in her abilities - she can barely negotiate providing assistance to another nation. “Let’s go wait by the Shrine. Naboori will find us there.”

Zelda had never conceived of a world where Sanjo was envious of her relationship with Urbosa, until now. Zelda had simply thought Sanjo did not like Urbosa being so openly friendly with the Hylian kingdom. Sanjo said more than once in Zelda’s earshot that if the Gerudo’s let down their guard, the Hylians would blame them for all their troubles, from Yiga that hid in their home desert to the increase in monsters across the land.

Worse, Zelda couldn't really blame her for those words. More than once, she’d heard her own nobles taking umbrage with the high cost of trade with the Gerudo, along with her father’s threats to bring the Hylian army into the desert to rout out the Yiga assassins.

Sanjo’s other accusations, Zelda could not argue either. Her father had been right. She was a terrible excuse for the Triforce of Wisdom.

“Did you only find another mummy and an old Thunderblade?” Zelda wanted to make sure her spirits were properly down, so she confirmed her suspicions with Link.

He nodded, motioning with the slate, which she took back. “Took pictures. Another puzzle, smaller.”

Later that evening, Naboori found them with food and water in hand. “Sorry about the welcome, Princess,” she said in greeting, as she handed over a water skien, half a melon and some jerked meat. “Myself included. You helped save the caravan, and I’d been nothing but rude.”

Zelda was a little relieved that not everyone hated her that moment, but she wasn’t sure she deserved the relief. “No, I’ve placed a heavy burden on everyone around me. Ganon is destroying the land. I can’t be expected to just have everyone drop what they are doing to help me.”

“Even so, Princess, you don’t deserve Sanjo’s bad temper. She got more than enough of it as it is on good days, and she’s not gotten more than three consecutive hours of sleep in the past few days.”

Zelda considered the food, feeling shame for having had her opportunity to sleep yesterday. “No need. Sanjo and I have never gotten along. I hadn’t realized how bad it was until now.”

Naboori motioned for her to eat, “War like this can bring out the best in people, but that can come with their worst. For instance, I’d never imagine the Voe Hylian Champion, as excellent a fighter earlier, to be such a messy eater.” Link looked up from his portion of the melon, juice down his cheeks despite his best efforts. He gave her a look, though Naboori just smiled and continued, “Why don’t I lay out the situation in greater detail while you eat, Princess, and we can start talking battle plan in the meantime? I can’t let my namesake end up being cursed, so I have a stake in your success.”

Every four hours, Vah Naboris made its circuit. In the sandstorm whipped up in its wake, Yiga attacked and three to five of the giant steel balls rained down upon the city. When the Divine Beast is closest to the wall, they even have to take cover from lightning, Yiga and Gerudo both. The beast has never trampled through the city, fortunately, but the few Yiga they’ve interrogated have said they want to form their own city and kill potential Ganon’s enemies. Destroying it would serve no good long term purpose.

They had another three hours or so before the next fight, so Zelda considered their options while reviewing the images on the Sheikah Slate.

She thought she had a plan by the time there was an hour or so left, but it was more brave and crazy rather than wise. Naboori said as much, but Link didn't argue. At least, not aloud. Zelda wasn’t sure she should take that as confidence in her plan, or him being too polite to argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about changing the story's name. There are more than enough "[Preposition] the Wild" stories out there, and I am not sure mine is all that great. 
> 
> I am leaning towards "Heir to Nothing". I feel like it is way more poignant, given that this really is a story about Zelda, not Link. 
> 
> Any thoughts or feedback? Even unrelated to the name, give me a heads up on what you think. Am I missing something you'd like? Am I describing things well enough? How much more angst should I include? 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

The wind began to whip harder, and the sand began to sting a little as it hit Zelda’s bare skin. They were not far from the sheltering walls of Gerudo Town, but they were on the south side of the walls, but on the wrong side of them. Unprotected as Vah Nabooris approached, it was not hard to imagine how the natural spring that fed Gerudo Town became so clogged with sand it was nigh undrinkable. 

Zelda and Link lay sheltered in the shadow of the spiked metal boulder summoned by the Yiga Leader. The ground was still a little glassy around them from when electricity still surged through the siege weapon. Her movements felt stiff as she checked for the fourth time that her personal crossbow, the one that she always left with Urbosa, was secured in a way she could grab quickly.

Zelda would be lying if she didn't admit she was a little worried. Approaching the Divine Beast while the sand storm raged without the ability to stop lightning was suicide. But Gerudo scouts had seen resupply and reinforcements join the Divine Beast by waiting in its path away from the city and climbing up ropes as the Beast passed over. When a Gerudo spy team tried this, lightning incinerated them as soon as they were spotted by the Yiga. 

So what Link and Zelda were attempting to do was a different kind of suicide, really. She was just fairly confident in its workability. She’d lied to everyone else though. It was a fool’s gambit she sold, telling everyone she had a decent chance of being right. 

Zelda was also pretty certain that Link knew she’s been blowing smoke, but he only nodded. When she asked if anyone else had a better idea, no one spoke up. And since it put Zelda herself in danger, Sanjo hadn't minded.

The winds and sands picked up again and she could feel the ground shudder with the impact of one pair of hooves settling again onto the ground. 

There was a whump of magic and the Yiga Clan began their own approach. One Yiga Clan member, a large woman with a halberd, appeared not twenty feet away. It was night, and she didn't seem to notice the Hylians sheltered in the shadow of the Yiga’s own siege ammunition. 

Zelda prayed for her plan to work a little longer. 

Behind them, the screams of Gerudo war and the clashing of metal. War had started again, with arrows flying over Zelda and Link’s hiding spot, arrows whistling. There were arrows fired back from Gerudo Greatbows. Not far away a few more Yiga teleported from the base of the wall to the top, to meet the Gerudo warriors directly. 

Another lumbering swinging step - just one step left - and Zelda could feel the sand take on a tang she couldn’t quite taste. She pulled her hand back from Link’s shield, and static popped her hand, surprising her and having her utter the smallest of noises. Link gave a small ‘hmmph’ of concern, and she nodded, agreeing. 

Zelda activated the Magnesis rune. Link drew the Master Sword. 

Zelda grabbed the the spiked metal ball, taller even than most Gerudo women, and lifted it with the slate, like it were nothing more than feather. Link and Zelda both stared, for just the barest moment, at a pair of astonished Yiga archers on the other side of the boulder, before Link shouted “Ya!” and leapt at them. Zelda moved to stay close and behind Link, the spiked boulder held about five feet above their head. 

There were shouts and screams, and it sounded like an alarm was blasted somewhere above. Zelda could see now that the Yiga Clan had managed to create a rigging system underneath Vah Nabooris, making a mobile war platform to organize and plan from. 

Zelda didn’t stare long, dancing to stay behind and near Link, holding the boulder as steady as possible. Link dispatched those two archers and they stepped quickly closer to Vah Nabooris, its left legs, closest to them and the Gerudo Town, lifting to swing closer. 

Zelda could taste oxide at the back of her throat, and Link looked at her, the tiniest bit of doubt in his mind. Zelda felt an arrow whistle past her head. She didn’t meet his gaze, instead watching the swinging legs of Vah Nabooris, trying to figure out where it would land. 

The world went white and loud for a moment, and Zelda thought she must have died. 

She blinked away tears, caused by worry and sand and oxide, and saw that Link was still standing there, and they both looked up to see that the spiked ball above them crackled with untold electrical power. 

Zelda gave a proud grin and a “Ha!” Before activating the controls to extend the spiked ball and pushed it out as far as her tether would go, dashing to meet the nearest leg, still swinging lugubriously closer. 

The Magnesis Rune, appeared to have an infinite amount of inertia. She’d been able to push Link around with zero issues, though when she tried to push a sword into the ground, it would only go a couple of inches, pressing an indent into the surface before the earth itself was too much. 

It was incredibly powerful, Zelda realized, something only the Ancients could have managed. So when she put the spiked ball, crackling with energy, into the path of the swinging leg of Vah Nabooris, she wasn’t quite sure what would happen. She hoped the rune and spikes would pierce the grounding-exterior of the Ancient Device, give her and Link a chance to climb the beast herself. 

Zelda had hoped that the electric discharge into Vah Nabooris might slow it down. She hadn’t expected a second, more excessive, sound and flash thunder, causing Link, Zelda, and a number of the combatants to flinch.

The earth shuddered and Vah Nabooris’s legs landed hard on ground, feeling significantly louder, and harder, than it should have, even compared to the previous steps. An arrow flew past Zelda and Link grabbed her shoulder. Zelda barely managed to nod and struggled to realign the Slate to grab the battered looking spiked ball. The impact had broken even the Slate’s considerable grip on the steel ball. Apparently Vah Nabooris was the more unstoppable object. 

Abstractly, Zelda noticed the sand settling a bit, the sudden slow in the battle rhythm as everyone paused to look at Vah Nabooris, which was tottering a bit. 

Less abstractly, she realized that the sand around her and Link was beginning to spark again, which was why she was stumbling over the Slate’s controls, trying to protect them as Link circled her and they both stumbled forward. 

Zelda heard trained warriors of her court talk about how time seems to slow down when a fight begins, that the adrenaline and thrill of battle made everything clearer and more sensible. She could barely process the chaos around them as they ran for Vah Nabooris, sand everywhere, things happening so fast, so violently, so frequently that Zelda could scarcely process. 

Her fumbling fingers grabbed the steel spikes again. She prayed the damage done by the impact with Vah Nabooris hadn’t reduced the dented orb’s ability to absorb lighting. She should have thought of this. She was going to get them killed. The Slate wasn’t moving fast enough as electricity gathered again and Zelda grabbed Link’s collar to make sure he didn’t run from the safety and the electricity sparked around them again and then white. 

Zelda’s ears rung as the orb took another hit from lightning. Zelda and Link were a stone’s throw away from the halted Ancient Beast, and, for good measure, Zelda directed the orb to contact the same spot in Vah Nabooris’s leg they hit the first time, where a chink of its ancient armor was damaged. 

This time, while Nabooris was standing still, the impact did not carry the same impact, but there was a matching accompaniment of light as the electricity discharged again into Vah Nabooris, causing the lights along its outside to flash in a dizzying, random array. Zelda felt something knocked her head aside, but she didn’t pause as Link and she stumbled forward to grasp some of the rope and rigging set up by the Yiga Clan in their plan to use Vah Nabooris as a war platform.

Zelda knew these beasts well, and she knew Nabooris probably the best. It was a beast of lighting and power, much matched to its host nation in the Gerudo. It wouldn’t break with additional electricity, but the ancient technology would likely need time to discharge all that energy. Zelda had learned that lesson when she’d been experimenting and had shorted energy points across her hands. It had caused her heart to race and her hair to stand on end. Zelda learned not to play with the ancient energies at work so carelessly. 

This was all before the end of the world, more than a year ago now. 

Right now, Zelda was trying to climb a rope after Link, climbing end over end, as he scrambled up to the platform where a few archers were starting to recognize they had unwelcome guests. A Gerudo longbow arrow took out one of the sentries, but the other Yiga archer fired once, down upon them, grazing Link’s back, knocking one hand from the ropes, before he continued scrambling. 

Another Gerudo arrow saved the two Hylians, allowing Link to reach the main platform leading into Vah Nabooris, while Zelda scrambled after. 

Zelda began to see feel the Beast shuddering again, as she grasp the edge. Zelda watched as Link cut down more Yiga archers, likely on the platform because they weren’t as skilled in teleportation. Zelda would have gotten up and pulled out her own crossbow, except that her grip to pull herself up was slick with the blood of the first two archers, hit by large Gerudo arrows. 

Link eventually had to help her with a free hand as Nabooris started to move again. Her front was coated with blood, and as Link lifted her to her feet, his eyes were alarmed, as he turned her head aside, “Hey- what?” 

He touched the side of her head with a clean hand and it came away bloody. She reached up herself, and found that she had a cut on the side of her face, just over the top of her ear, cutting a long shallow cut that dripped bright, warm blood. Zelda think she might have lost the lock of hair she could never get tucked behind her ear too. 

That moment, when they were running to Nabooris, when something seemed to flash past her face. An arrow. She shuddered, and looked to Link, who looked a more harrowed than he ought to be. “Well. It’s just a flesh wound. I’ve seen you take far worse. Can we cut a bandage off of one of these Yiga? They won’t be needing their layers, and we need to take back Nabooris before the fight ends with Gerudo town and the Yiga regroup in retreat. We can’t fight a hundred of them.”

Vah Nabooris was moving again, albeit slowly. Below them, fighting continued, and Zelda wiped blood off on a clean part of her pants, so she could handle the Slate. It might be waterproof, but she didn’t want to smear blood on it while Link wrapped her head and she kept an eye on the entrance to Vah Nabooris and the Slate at the same time.   
“Blast. It looks like the Slate desynchronized with the Ancient Beast. We will need to reforge the connection. Do you remember where the main control point is?” Link looked at her blankly as he finished wrapping her head, thrice around, but not so tight as to hurt, with rags from a dead Yiga guard. 

She nodded, “Don’t worry, I do. Let’s keep an eye out for Urbosa while we figure this mess out.”

Link nodded as Zelda looked down at the bloody mess all over her, wondering how she happened to look like a massacre while Link looked relatively unhurt. Hero of Courage and Immortality, apparently. Fortunately most of the blood on her was not actually hers. She pulled out her crossbow. 

Getting onto Vah Nabooris was the easy part. Now they had to tame the Beast.


	7. Chapter 7

The ramp up into the Ancient Beast was mostly clear, but there were clearly pools of iridescent ichor here and there, as if the machine was growing an evil looking mold. It was the same color as the sky over her castle. Zelda just assumed it was Ganon’s doing. Link poked at it a bit with the Master Sword, and the oily growth simply slid off the tip. They rounded the ramp up and went up the ramp to find a tiny Ancient Guardian waiting for them, eye red and angry, as it pulled out a spear and charged them. 

Zelda took careful aim with her weapon, but Link parried and stepped into her way. Watching her footing, she took another step away, intending to take a shot, but Link destroyed the little device with a few more swipes, the pieces slowly rumbling off the edge of the ramp and beneath Vah Nabooris, where the real fighting was happening. 

Zelda nodded to Link and they continued up. The black ichor looked like it was trying to form together, but it was too small to be anything other than a stepping hazard, and the pair of them were standing in the barrel chest of the Ancient Beast. 

There were supplies and crates all around the Ancient Beast, as if the Yiga were using it as a storage bay, filled with bananas and other food supplies. There were cots resting on the ground as well, and Zelda made note if it all, realizing this place would be a serious hazard as she started rotating things. 

“Keep an eye out for signs of Urbosa, Link. She’s a mighty warrior, but even she would be cautious in the middle of all these enemies.” Zelda didn’t say the unnecessary, that Urbosa could be long dead, and thrown over the edge of the Beast like waste, if Ganon or the Yiga had killed her. Zelda prayed that wasn’t the case. No Yiga were here at the moment, but she could hear them shouting on the ledges outside. 

She looked at Link, and towards those ledges, no doubt sending arrows into Gerudo Town. He looked at her significantly as if saying she wouldn’t leave his side. 

She sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to beat his ability to speak without words, “You go kill them on the ledge, I will go straight ahead and reforge the link to the Slate using the Guidance stone. Everyone’s outside, I’ll be fine. Surprise is on your side. When I reforge, the whole place will light up.” She spoke in hushed tones, in case anyone could hear the echo of their voices. Not that Link had much to say. 

Link looked a little dubious, he’d never been as comfortable inside the Ancient Beasts as Zelda or the other Champions. Zelda had never had much luck getting the same sense for them that the Champions could, but she, with her Slate unlocked their original potential. 

It was time to do that again. Zelda kept her crossbow out as she headed forward, to the ramp that would lead her to the primary pedestal, while Link headed to the nearest ramp to the outside. Shouting and yelling and combat still shielded their actions, but Zelda knew they were running out of time. She moved forward, feeling again that ache in her hip exacerbated by her scrambling up the rope and rigging. The dull burn of that cut above her right ear was more apparent now as time passed. 

Zelda knew she couldn’t activate the main control pillion without reforging the link between her Slate and it, so her first job was to regain control of the central rotation. Increased shouting behind her said that Link was working, as she scrambled up the ramp, and into the chamber where the pylon waited. 

That black muck seemed to spread here, far further, covering even the slot she wanted to place her slate. Zelda frowned, looking at muck closely. She pulled her boot back as soon as it looked like the muck was trying to come closer, to suck her in. At a loss, she looked around until she saw on the ceiling a single baleful glaring down at her, bright orange among the dark miasma. 

Zelda hedged her bets and sent a bolt into its center. She watched as the miasma across the room seemed to burn with invisible fire and vanish into nothingness in rapid order. She didn’t waste time inserting the Sheikah Slate and reloaded her crossbow while the link was forged. 

Behind her, the belly of the beast, she saw that Link got pushed back into the chamber, dealing with a large Yiga member with a katana as long as Link himself. More Yiga followed and Zelda realized there must have been twenty or more Yiga out on that balcony, some of which were hidden. 

Zelda grabbed the Slate with one hand and checked to make sure that she had control of the inner mechanisms of Vah Nabooris. She did. With a swipe, she sent the chamber spinning while she took aim. 

Link was a master swordsman, fully equipped to deal with far more than a few rotating platforms. He didn’t look up to her when the floors began to move. She’d sent the chamber spinning in different patterns, with the middle spinning clockwise, the outer two rotating counterclockwise. Her first bolt bit into the shoulder of an archer that had been startled by the sudden motion. 

Between Zelda standing on a stationary platform, the Champion of Hyrule, and the eight or nine so Yiga dodging moving platforms, crates and other stored goods, the match was almost over before it started. One of the Yiga got cute and tried to teleport behind Zelda, but by now, she’d grasped the nearly invisible invocations, and knew when they were going to vanish. The thin, reedy Yiga spellcaster appeared just in time to catch a bolt in the throat. 

Once they were all dispatched, Zelda pulled her slate out and froze the rotating chambers, intending to lock everyone out from the inside, while Link and Zelda reconvened. 

Zelda’s inclination was to retake Vah Nabooris completely, but she wondered if Link would rather systematically take out all the Yiga clan first. 

“Ah, my little bird, as the Goddess wills, it is good to see you.”

Frozen for a moment in shock, Zelda looked around for Urbosa’s voice, Link as startled as Zelda. 

Above, she decided, and saw the distant face of Urbosa in the face of the grate of the forward hump. 

“Urbosa!” Zelda shouted. “Thank the Goddess you are alright.”

She must have chuckled, but it didn’t carry this far, “Maybe not in one piece, but… well, I am glad you and the boy are alright. Mind if you come to me? I’m rather indisposed.”

Zelda answered as she stalked to the front of the Ancient Beast, where they could both access the humps on the beast’s back, “A few moments only!”

Link skittered to get ahead of her, just in case there were Yiga, but Zelda hadn’t been worried. If the Yiga hadn’t known they were here before, they knew now, with Vah Nabooris’s activity. 

The climbed the outside ladder up to the first entrance of the humps, but found that the entrance was completely blocked by the same black muck that grew over the beast, a sign of Ganon’s influence over the beasts, and his hand in all this chaos. 

“We’ll have to activate the neck of the beast, Link,” she said, calculating. “Give me a moment to realign the power and-” There was a sharp sound of metal on metal, and a clattering noise, and the miasma started to fade away. 

Just inside the doorway, a curved sword, a relic of the Gerudo tribe, lay against the floor, and in the center of the room, on the grating underneath the elevator, lay Urbosa, prone, but a look of feirce pride on her face. “That Revali may have his hand in firing from a bow, but I’d like to see him throw a twenty pound sword with those scrawny bird arms. I- Princess!, are you alright?” Urbosa looked more aghast than Zelda felt, until Zelda realized why.

Zelda smiled, glad to see Urbosa was in such high spirits. “No don’t worry, most of this blood” blood which stained her pretty much from collarbone to belly, “isn’t mine.” Zelda stepped forward until she realized that there was a reason that the giant woman wasn’t standing to greet them. 

Her left foot at the ankle was gone, a rag of bloody royal blue tied tightly around the stump. 

“Urbosa! Your leg!” She ran forward, finding herself pulling at her pack, hoping for something that could somehow restore limbs to appear. 

Urbosa’s hand reached out to the side of Zelda’s face, “Your head!” 

“I’m fine, it’s only a shallow cut. You’ve lost a foot!” She pulled out a water skien feeling her nigh-instinctual need to clean the wound as a poor substitute for replacing it. 

“No! Don’t waste the water on the leg. It’s fine. I’d prefer the water myself. It's… It’s been very dry up here. I can see why the Hylians wilt without it for too long.” The Gerudo tolerance for the heat and dry desert was well known. That Urbosa was parched meant she hadn’t had water for days.

Zelda handed over the water skin, and Urbosa drank. Zelda could see the wreckage of an ancient small guardian that appeared to have been dragged within reach of Urbosa, and the beginnings of a crutch was being lashed together from its innards and limbs. 

Link brough the Gerudo Chieftain’s sword over and began working with the crutch, seeing what he could do to finish it with what was nearby.

Urbosa answered the unspoken questions, as soon as she guzzled down the last of the water. “I got to Nabooris as the sun fell, and began commanding it into position, until Ganon’s poison seemed to erupt from the central command module, into a beast of lightning and blades. I’d foolishly left our heirloom behind, in a rush for weapon and shield.” 

She shook her head, “I’d noticed the Yiga had began scaling the beast as it froze in place, but I couldn’t beat back beast in time. I couldn’t fight their leader, a reedy little nothing who shouted he was “Orinohas” with every spell and throwing steel orbs that absorbed my Fury while dealing with the monster that burst from the control center. I was nearly trapped between the Yiga and the Ganon beast, and fled up here. That black filth,” she motioned to the doorway that had been previously been blocked, “had started growing, and I found myself fighting a little guardian, the one that had been frozen, do you remember Princess?” 

Zelda nodded. There’d been a few guardians on the Beast, frozen in place and deactivated. She’d never figured out how to turn them on. Ganon must have, though. 

“I was careless, and stepped back into the filth and… well.” She motioned to the stump. “It ate away so fast I didn’t have time to scream. I killed the ancient guardian, but... “ She shook her head, “I couldn’t do anything but watch the Yiga seize the device and begin raiding my own home. Vah Nabooris, in the hands of the damn Yiga.” 

The princess sighed, “Ganon’s evil was well timed and nigh-perfectly executed.” Zelda realized they were wasting time. She looked over at Link to see what he was doing, and what progress he’d made, and saw that the crutch was more or less complete, and he was testing it, though it was as tall as he was. Zelda had a thought and looked at it with him. 

“It’s a bit of a shame you had to come to rescue the Gerudo, Princess. Your father will be sure to lord over us the Hylian victory over the sands.”

Zelda looked at Urbosa, confused, before she realized, “Oh… no, we never made it into Hyrule proper. We activated that pedestal, which became a tower, rising from the ground like a tree, hundreds of feet tall.” She continued working with crutch while Link patrolled a bit, watching for Yiga, who were bound to become interested in finding them soon. 

“That would explain the tower I’ve seen in Nabooris’s circles, but, why did you come here first, princess?”

“There were fifty - or more - of those full sized guardians, burning the town into rubble. Even if Link and I had headed straight there from Mount Lanayru… I’d have earned my unofficial title. There’s nothing left. We… I cowardly thought it would have been better to re-seize the Ancient Beasts before facing Ganon. With your support, and the other beasts…” Zelda picked up Urbosa’s shield and began fiddling with the straps, attaching it to the crutches. “... maybe a few of my fellow Hylians can be saved. A number of them are refugees in Gerudo Valley. I don’t think the Goddesses ever their had faith in me which is why Hyrule was slain so quickly, so mercilessly.”

“Little bird…” Urbosa was likely going to try to talk Zelda out of her emotional distress, but Zelda had long made peace, ever since she’d spent that time climbing down the tower and waiting for Link outside the shrine, that she’d failed everyone who’d ever called thought of her as their princess. She just needed to save as many of everyone else, and help Link defeat Ganon. That had been her job from the start.

“There you are. I know it’s foolish to ask you to sit this out while we retake Vah Nabooris. You should be able to use your shield at least.” Zelda leaned the crutche against the elevator’s small ramp, which had been quietly whirring up and down above them this entire time. The elevator on its way up, it was as good a time as any to get Urbosa standing. 

Link was waiting just inside the entrance they took, having heard someone approach from outside. 

As Zelda hauled to get Urbosa’s considerable size to her foot, Link surprised a pair of Yiga who appeared in the doorway, bows drawn. 

Urbosa grabbed the crutch, and situated it in the crook of her arm, on the same side as the missing leg. The shield wasn’t perfect, but Zelda had used the remainder of the royal sash provided by her father to cushion the crutch, using the parts that hadn’t been used as a tourniquet on Urbosa’s leg. Hylians may not specialize in quality princesses, but they knew their textiles. 

“Alright. Once you are settled, Urbosa, let’s reclaim this beast. The sooner we stop the assault on Gerudo Town, the faster we move on.” The Yiga were dead, and Link nodded in agreement. 

Zelda knew this beast better than her own castle it seemed, sometimes. The three of them made their way through with relative easy, especially when Zelda could use Magnesis on a few of the control schema. 

As they worked, Urbosa admirably kept up, though she was clearly in pain. “Princess,” she started, as they worked their way through the occasional Yiga, a few small guardians, and terminals. “How is Gerudo Town doing?”

Zelda activated the third terminal, answering, “Well as could be expected. Its covered in sand, and all the civilians are at the Oasis. Sanjo is leading the defense, and is doing a fine job of it. She effortlessly wields the Gerudo artifact.” She watched the slate cycle through its light show, “I hadn’t realized how much animosity I’ve garnered from your daughter, however. I don’t think she will be unhappy to see you, but it might be better if you meet with her without me.”

Urbosa sighed, “We’d had a fight when I grabbed my equipment to take control of Vah Nabooris. She likely will be no happier to see me return than she might otherwise. With my foot, she’ll need to take on being the chieftain..” 

They stepped outside of the Beast, to make their way towards terminal four, and Urbosa paused. Zelda didn’t see why, as she was waiting for a dollop of red light to manifest into a Yiga archer who thought it could surprise them from above. 

She fired her crossbow before the figure appeared, but the bolt sprouted from his or her chest as they became material. Urbosa snapped her finger, and a spear of lightning illuminated the night for a moment. Presumably another Yiga. 

They finished activating the last terminal, the entire beast seemed to take on a more ominous air, and there were flickers of darkness at the corners of her eyes, as if something were trying to claw its way out of the divine beast’s skin. She looked at Link who nodded, indicating he saw it too. Urbosa clicked her tongue, “Damn Ganon for taking my beast. With a way to seal the darkness, I suppose Link will have a better chance in the fight than I did.” 

Their last terminal took them from a small offshoot of the main chamber, where they headed back, with Zelda controlling the rotation to keep them and Urbosa from having to balance long on one foot. 

There were no Yiga waiting for them, to Zelda’s surprise, and she reoriented the chamber back into its original format, to place the central control terminal back in its place. 

Zelda confirmed that the others were ready to deal with the threat, and they nodded. Urbosa added, “Watch out, its quick, and it looks half lightning, so don’t get sloppy.” She didn’t stand on the same platform, but on the ground, due to her limited mobility. She also looked rather more exhausted than Zelda thought she was putting on. 

Link nodded, his blade and a shield at the ready

Placing the slate on the central plinth, she felt the Divine Beast slow down, eventually freezing, as dark miasma erupted from the central control panel. Link pushed her back, initially, before light began to coalesce behind them, into an evil looking beast with a scimitar and shield. Zelda took aim, but then heard a voice cry out.

“Oh ho! It is I, Orinohas! My trap is set. And it looks like I will get to kill the princess of Hyrule too!”

Zelda glanced over to one of the entrances to the outside of the Divine Beast, where a scrawny looking man in fine Yiga clothing stood. He made a few motions and snapped his finger, summoning a very familiar, huge metallic orb, like the ones being hurled down upon Gerudo Town. “Oh Ganon will be so pleased with us.”

Urbosa had to hop out of the way of the orb as it rolled around the inside of the chamber, and Zelda announced, “We’ll handle him, Link take on the Beast.” 

Link grunted in agreement and Zelda fired on the Yiga Clan Leader, who dodged as she lifted the crossbow.

Zelda looked around for a moment as she reloaded the crossbow and saw that the leader of the Yiga teleported to behind Urbosa, to summon another spiked ball. He stood at the edge of a platform, giving Zelda an idea. In the entrance where Orinohas had come from, were a pair of archers looking around to see what trouble they could cause. 

“Watch your footing!” Zelda shouted, as she pulled out the Sheikah Slate and tried to rotate the chamber. The device refused at first, and she had to go to the special commands to regain control. 

Soon, the entire chamber began to rotate 90 degrees, throwing the unbalanced Leader of the Yiga off his ledge next to Urbosa’s hopping form. 

The archers cut off from the chamber, and the already two spiked balls sent rolling around the various objects, Urbosa and Zelda set about pinning Orinohas down while Link sealed the darkness. Zelda moved the chamber about a couple more times, if only to just keep Orinohas from standing still. 

The fighting was not pretty, not from Zelda’s and Urbosa’s side, but they beat the scrawny sorcerer through a mix of persistence and, eventually, making him teleport into the path of one of his own traveling, spiked orbs as Urbosa’s crutch shattered, tossing her to the side. 

Zelda winced, and looked for Link while she checked on Urbosa. 

Link dodged a lighting ensconced blade and thrust his own deep into the monster’s chest. It keened in pain and looked to try to zip away again, before it dropped its weapon, finally collapsing. 

The blight of Ganon, that grasping flickering darkness that seemed to exude from the beast faded as Zelda watched the monster fade away as well. 

She heard Urbosa give a sigh of relief. “Oh, I can feel the Divine Beast’s controls again. Thank the Goddess, I my stomach was getting upset with all the spinning parts.”

Zelda chuckled then swallowed and looked to make sure Link was alright. He had a strange look on his face, as he stared at the sword that sealed darkness. “What is it, Link?”

He came closer and sheathed the sword, shaking his head. He looked to Urbosa, asking her “Okay?”

The Divine Beast began moving again, this time with more purpose than Zelda felt it had before. Urbosa grinned, “Just fine. I feel like sword dancing. I am going to take us back to Gerudo Town, we will restock, and I believe you have people we need to protect in the Valley, am I right, Princess?” She mused a moment “If I were the Yiga, I bet they put a set of guards on the top of the valley. Now let’s see if we can’t teach this old Divine Beast to climb, and with a score of our best warriors hauled in, we can stomp these Yiga bastards out.”

Zelda nodded, knowing that she and Link could stay here and travel with them, moving much faster than any horse through the desert. “And Link and I can go to Zora’s Domain and retake Vah Ruta.”

Link looked at her, nodding more affirmative, looking almost eager to push on. He mad Zelda feel tired and ashamed of being tired, given that the world was at stake. Maybe it was the benefits of being the Champion to slay darkness. Maybe it was just knowing his loved one was waiting for him. Zelda couldn’t say. She was very tired all of a sudden. It had been a long day. Or days. She wasn’t sure anymore.

Zelda found a bit of bedding the Yiga had brought in and that had been tossed around. She wasn’t sure how long it would take to get back to Gerudo Town, but she knew she probably didn’t have time enough to take a nap. 

She did anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the Divine Beast felt a little rushed. I didn't want to linger on too long, and I'm ready to move out from the desert. (I am playing along in the game as I do this, to keep my references more or less accurate.) Originally I planned to make this two chapters, but I rushed the joke setup for the Yiga leader rather than drag it out. Besides, this is just the first Divine Beast of the story. It rightly should be the easiest. 
> 
> I've seen the memories of the new DLC, and I will sprinkle bits of it in here and there as appropriate, but there won't be anything spoilery. The memories thankfully don't unravel my characterizations thus far. 
> 
> Don't hesitate to tell me where to course correct if I am skipping along too quickly and thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Zelda felt the shuddering sway of the Divine Beast halt, and she had to claw herself from being asleep. Her struggle said she’d been asleep for one hundred years, but she knew it could only be about thirty minutes. Vah Nabooris was quick, and the relatively flat desert made for easy travel. 

She sat up rubbing her aching head like she’d been the one dehydrated and without a foot for days, and felt instantly guilty for taking a break. Link had no trouble staying awake and watching for trouble, even though Zelda had more or less sealed all the entrances and exits into the interior where they rested. 

Having felt the Divine Beast fall to its knees, Zelda assumed that from the yelling and war cries outside, there was still a battle going on between the remaining Yiga and the Gerudo, though without the cover of sand, artillery, or electricity, Zelda did not give the Yiga a strong fighting chance. They were ambushers and guerrilla fighters only; their fighting style and tactics were terrible for siege and entrenched fighting, according to Zelda’s research into warfare as a child. 

Zelda saw Link warily step towards one of the exits of the beast, the door furthest forward and towards the town, she nodded, knowing neither he nor anyone else would see it. She pulled out the slate and rotated the chamber, letting Link step out and join the fray. Zelda stood and pulled out her crossbow from where she had it slung, noticing that Link looked back to make sure that she and Urbosa would be fine. 

Zelda nodded to him, stepping over runnels of blood that had traveled the room as she rotated it. Zelda noted belatedly that her blood soaked blouse was tacky with bits of flaking blood. She was still pretty certain most of it wasn’t hers, though how many people’s it was, she couldn’t say anymore. 

Urbosa looked like she was fighting to stay awake, her eyes blinking closed longer than they stayed open. 

“Did I… Did we make it to Gerudo town, Princess?”

“Judging from all those battle cries, I’d say so. You rest, you’ve done your fighting for the day. You do your people more credit than could be believed. Songs and stories will be sung about how you danced around Vah Naboris on one foot to fight for the Gerudo’s freedom.”

“Well, Princess, I’d expect those tales… would be just… part of the... much bigger story of… Link… and…” Urbosa trailed off, her eyes closed and her last words lost to dreams.

Zelda sighed, “Yes. They usually do.” She went to go find some clean rags and water, keeping one eye on the entrance of Vah Nabooris and her ears open for spells, in case some Yiga decided to try to make their way back here. 

By the time Zelda had placed a wet rag on Urbosa’s head, a pair of Gerudo entered, swords drawn and ready to fight. She hailed them, explaining Urbosa’s wounds and dehydration. One went back out to find a medic. 

They had no other trouble. Link had apparently fought at the entrance that Zelda had opened and not gone far, to protect his liege. Zelda wished she could have been seen as more competent, but she didn’t blame him. 

For the next hour, it was just cleanup, both literally and figuratively. Zelda was ushered into the town with Urbosa as soon as the battlefield was quiet, and taken first to a medic, who tersely checked Zelda’s head, with rough hands and some annoyance. “You’ll have a nasty scar, and may not grow hair there again, girl, but you’ll live. We don’t have the supplies to treat flesh wounds properly, princess of Hyrule or not.” 

The ‘there’ mentioned was a three inch sweep of skin along her left temple. Zelda didn’t mention all the bruising she was likely to have under her bloody gowns from all her fighting earlier, and she’d already cut off nearly a foot of hair to shove it into the Hylian Helm during the rush through the Gerudo Valley Narrows. It was much easier to deal with this short anyway. She ought to cut the lock off on the others side of her face, to make it even and keep the hair from her eyes. 

“I’d refuse the cure if you offered, Medic. Thank you for rebandaging it.” 

The medic, whom Zelda vaguely recalled from her many visits to Gerudo town as “Doriga”, cackled a bit, “No small thing for me to thank you for saving our town. Urbosa ordered me to check on your friend as well.”

A cloaked figure stepped out from the shadowy corner, a curiously short shadowy figure. 

“If… Urbosa allowed it, then I have no complaints…” Link having been allowed into the town was a shock, even to Zelda. She knew that the rules about self-identified men were strictly followed, even if they were Gerudo by birth. Urbosa was particularly liberal, at least in private with Zelda, but she also was likely suffering some serious blood loss and dehydration. Zelda would need to keep a close eye that no hardline anti-patriarchal culturalists spotted him. No doubt Link knew the same. 

Link had a few electrical burns from using his shield to block the electrical attacks of the thunder demon of Ganon. Link seemed to barely notice them, 

Link was given a small soothing salve and Zelda insisted they be ushered into a small house with a large washing basin full of slightly gritty but very serviceable water. Link and Zelda had travelled together long enough to know how to wash themselves without being giggly teens. They had jobs far beyond their age, though link was a bit older than Zelda. 

That isn’t to say Zelda wasn’t tempted to look, but she was also tempted to throw herself from Mount Lanayru three, four days ago. For dignity’s sake, she could maintain some composure during a war her literally gods-forsaken self had caused. Besides, Link was not interested in her and she had long pushed off those thoughts once she’d seen Link with Mipha. 

The pair left soon after to head towards the shadow of Vah Nabooris, before any more trouble arose. While there was some concern that Link would be discovered, Zelda half just didn’t want to face Sanjo, who’s relief at her mother’s relative safety did not need to be ruined by the Hylian princess interrupting her euphoria. 

Zelda spent a little time helping the Gerudo clean out the inside of Vah Nabooris. Orders had already been made to pack supplies and ready a return assault to retake Gerudo Valley before word of the Yiga assault’s failure reached the forces harassing the Hylians. 

They ate war rations left by the Yiga, and helped load goods. Not soon after, Link and Zelda both heard that they wouldn’t be leaving for another four hours still, a couple hours before high noon, and both looked at each other. 

Wordlessly, in that way that long traveling companions do, they both realized they’d been pushing themselves as long as the other kept going. Zelda smiled, and Link muttered something about clean bedding. They both found a spot and slept. 

When Vah Nabooris started moving, Zelda bolted awake as fast as Link did, each grabbing for their weapons. Zelda’s heart raced with the fires in her dreams. “Relax, Hylians. You would do well to get more rest. It will take us about an hour at Nabooris’s best speed to make it to Twin Spectacle Peak,” Urbosa sounded far bolstered from her previous state, as Zelda realized the Gerudo chieftain was resting on a throned litter, made to be as comfortable as possible. 

When Urbosa saw Zelda’s look and laughed deeply, sounding much herself, “Sanjo told me that either I let our soldiers carry me out to Vah Nabooris, or I’d have to crawl. I don’t think she’s quite forgiven me for making her the official ruler of Gerudo Town so she could better resettle people in my absence, so I decided it would be better to give her this small concession.”

Zelda smiled wanly and while her body ached for more sleep, she needed to ask, “If we are stopping at Spectacle Rock, could you station Vah Nabooris next to the tower long enough for us to register the Slate? It may hold unknown powers that require more than one tower to activate.” Zelda wouldn’t have wasted anyone’s time climbing a tower otherwise, but this offered an opportunity she’d never have otherwise. 

“Princess, I’d ride Nabooris into Hyrule and crush Ganon myself for you, if this beast wouldn’t shut down outside the boundaries the Ancients put into place.”

Zelda well knew the Divine Beast couldn’t leave the desert boundaries, any more than Vah Medoh could fly further than the shadow of Mount Hebra. 

“No I understand. I imagine it was a safeguard for each kingdom, creating perfect guardians, but not war machines. I am not sure the suspension bridge could take the weight anyway.” Zelda saw that Link had settled back onto his cot, intending to sleep for the next hour, Zelda’s head was muzzy with a lack of sleep, aching even as she kept her eyes open. 

She lay back down and pretended to sleep, but not even the pain washed the visions of Hyrule Town burning, and she’d rather face a little more physical exhaustion than that. 

By the time she felt Vah Nabooris begin to scale the East Gerudo Mountains, she pulled herself to her feet, motioning to Link that he could stay resting. Goddess knows he must be tired, swinging that sword all day. 

He did, and Zelda joined a few Gerudo sharing rations before moving towards one of the side entrances to the Divine Beast, to look out as they traveled. There wasn’t much to see, but a cheer did go up each of the three times that Vah Nabooris crushed a Guardian defending the slopes of the mountain. When they’d reached the right spot, Zelda hopped from the platform to the Sheikah Tower, and found that the Slate mapped out the deserts, but didn’t do much else. It had been worth a try. 

As she hopped back over, she saw that a about half of their force of forty soldiers were scaling down the tower. 

Urbosa explained they were going to rout out the Yiga closer to the desert, while the rest of her forces reinforced the Hylian refuges. Urbosa would stay here as an advance guard and to coordinate as Zelda reuinited with the other kingdom leadership. Zelda told them to keep an eye out for Captain Korgan, who had planned to do something similar, with far fewer forces.

Quietly, Urbosa asked, “Does Korgan still hold her grudge against our people?” 

Zelda nodded. 

Urbosa sighed, “She’s become a strong young woman. I wish… had we known when h- they were born… Did you know that Korgan is Doriga’s kid?” 

Zelda shook her head, “I didn’t know Doriga had a family. I just knew Korgan had grown up in Hyrule, raised by one of the city guard.” She wondered if that was why the Medic hadn’t cared so much that Link was in the Gerudo Town, knowing that those ancient rules separated her from her child. 

Urbosa sighed, “I just wish Sanjo would see what harm the old rules did. Not unlike your…”

Zelda wondered if Urbosa somehow was becoming more candid with the loss of a leg, as impossible as it may seem. “I need to get ready to descend too, or far more families will be destroyed than by just tradition. Stay safe, Urbosa. Thank you for protecting my people.”

“Take care, little bird.” 

Link waited for her with climbing gear in tow. 

Zelda had long known how to repel, having been the first to discover Vah Rudania half buried in Death Mountain. She rested assured that, as Vah Nabooris settled onto its knees, her anchoring would be far more secure than it had been back then. Urbosa gave a command to the Divine Beast, and it fired a beam of energy into the heart of Hyrule, where Ganon’s evil presence lorded over the castle. 

Zelda would like to convince herself, along with the other cheering Gerudo, that Ganon appeared weakened by the ancient weapon, but the dark malevolence almost seemed to swell with the beam. “If nothing else,” Zelda said, to no one, though Link listened, “That beam is a direct rallying cry, something to show Hyrule is not lost and that someone is still fighting.” Link nodded, agreeing. 

Returning to the camp of Hylian refugees was met with cheers and celebration. Zelda hadn’t realized everyone would understand what it meant as well as she did, and she also hadn’t realized from the height of Spectacle Rock how big the camp had grown. Zelda and Link ate a little from the sparse supplies, and Zelda conferred with her soldiers, who’d killed a Hinox who’d been trying to set up camp on the bridge. She gave them standing orders to follow Urbosa’s lead, while Zelda and Link requisitioned horses. Zelda had already planned a route for them, and knew that as tired as they were, they wouldn’t make it much farther than the edges of Lanayru Wetlands. 

Link’s impatience was palpable, so Zelda didn’t argue when they walked through the camp without resting, Zelda simply gave her commands and ate as they moved. Link did grab a bow and some arrows as well. Zelda still had her crossbow, the one she’d owned since long before the arrival of Ganon and had left with Urbosa, and had gotten more bolts from Gerudo Town.

Vah Ruta waited. And with it, so did Mipha. 

\---

Gatepost Town looked as ravaged as Hyrule proper and was still under attack by several Moblins and a guardian. Link handed Zelda the reins and leapt off to deal with them, as soon as Zelda pointed out that a few guards appeared to be trying to hide in the rubble of what Zelda knew had been a bakery.

Zelda noted that the gatepost the town was known for, one of the only accessible entrances into old Hyrule and into the Great Plateau, was little more than rubble, blocking the way completely. Zelda recognized the heat scarring of Guardian fire. 

She fired a bolt into a moblin that got too close, but she otherwise intended to handle the horses. They’d done enough walking and running, and they would need these horses to make it to the edges of Lanayru’s Wetlands. While she waited, some tendril of the dark storm that seemed to be pouring over the Zora Domain reached them, and it began lightly raining.

Zelda was exhausted, and she could see that Link was floundering too, his reactions just a little slow, a little unbalanced. When the immediate threat was gone, Zelda noted that Link’s focus lingered on his sword a little, before he looked at her and stowed it as the guards came out of the rubble they’d been hiding in.

“Princess! Thank the Goddess we found you.”

Zelda nodded, acknowledgement, but ordered them, “Soldiers, go to Gerudo Valley. We are forming an official direct alliance with the Gerudo and they are helping protect our civillains. I am on a mission-”

“No!” one of the soldiers gasped, cutting her off, saying, “No, Princess, you must head to the Temple of Time, where your father waits.”

Zelda felt like she’d been hit with an arrow, the reins of her horse trembling a bit in her grasp. She’d already accepted her father was probably dead.

She looked towards the blocked gate, the only real accessible way into the Plateau. It was a terrible design, prone to flooding from drainage issues on the whole plateau and it had been on one of her lists to get fixed. As it stood, she would not get through any time soon. 

Zelda said as much, “Soldier, I cannot afford the time. My father should make his way to Gerudo Valley as well. You can see we’ve alread-”

“Your Highness, I’m sorry, but your father is gravely injured. He could die any moment. And he requested that-”

“Soldier!” Zelda didn’t feel the right kinds of emotion at this, she knew, and felt guilty for it. Zelda was agitated, not worried, in that moment, that she was being asked to weigh her duty as a daughter over the world. 

What exactly would a doting daughter do here? Throw herself at the Plateau Cliffs, desperate to hear her father’s final words? Cry over his broken body surrounded by the solemn construction of the Temple of Time? Or did he expect her to shove her dying father into the Shrine of Resurrection and abandon the Slate with him?

“Soldier.” Zelda was more even tempered, “My father impressed upon me the importance of duty as the Princess of Hyrule.” This soldier may not know what acid she spat, but she was too tired to use it sparingly. “He should know the kingdom comes first. If you want to throw yourselves at those wet cliffs and tell him I said that myself, you can. I don’t have a day to spare to wait for the rains to clear.” She gestured as she spoke, gently, but she still trembled with fury. “Or you can go to Gerudo Valley and bolster our defences there.” 

The pair of soldiers looked stunned, still standing at attention from when she first shouted. Zelda finished, “I will give my father his proper respects when Hyrule is ours again. Alive or dead. Dismissed.” She ushered her horse on, already too much time wasted as they turned north, towards Whistling Hill.

She didn’t look at Link, but she could tell he was but a few paces behind, wordlessly following, as the drizzle increased. When Zelda did look, she noticed his eyes were set on the black clouds that shrouded the Zora Region, lighting occasionally crackling through the skies. 

She refused to think herself as abandoning her father. He taught her that being callous was the way of Hylian royalty. She had responsibilities to attend to.

Zelda both were so distracted by the storm over Zora’s domain and storm of her own thoughts that they nearly ran into an ambush on Owlan Bridge. Link must have been likewise occupied with thoughts, Zelda presumed it was of Mipha. 

Zelda pulled her horse up short, suddenly, as she realized something was wrong, and that there seemed to purple light coming from the forests surrounding Batrea Lake, and as she did so, an arrow, loosed too early, flew over the bridge and towards their mount.

“Moblins, and another guardian. That forest will give us no maneuvering room.” She shouted, adding a little more quietly, “North, lets go north. Cross at the Horwell Bridge.”

Link nodded and the horses were ushered on, even as a few Moblins still tried to run across the bridge to get to them in time. Zelda watched as the forest seemed to shift in the darkness, Moblins trying to pace them going north. Another few flashes of purple, and Zelda thought there might be two or more Guardians waiting for them. 

They wouldn’t make it across Nabi Lake in time. Zelda could scream her frustration, until she saw the orange flash ahead of them. “Link!, Let’s keep going past the bridge.” Her voice was ragged and rough with everything these past few days. “Get to the East side of Bottomless Swamp, then get into the river, make the horses swim to the backside of Floret Sandbar, hide behind Hila Rao Shrine, and cross over East again in the morning.” 

It was a little lost time, but it also might give them some barrier from monsters, being on that small river. Moblins and Bokoblins hate swimming. They could camp with light, and not need to start a suspicious fire.

Link nodded, and they pushed the horses to run harder, so they could lose their distant pursuers before the ruse was caught.


	9. Chapter 9

The night behind Hila Rao was miserable. This isn’t to say that Zelda didn’t sleep, even sitting upright, leaning against Link’s back with her oiled hood up, the drizzle slowly seeping into the seams of every scrap of clothing. The orange light of the shrine did nothing to warm them, just providing vivid colors behind Zelda’s dreams, startling her awake every few minutes. 

This wasn’t the first time Zelda and Link had to set up shelter so close, but normally they’d have stopped well before sundown and properly established camp. Instead, they simply set down a tarp to sit on, while most of their tent was used to cover the horses, who came out of the Hylian River shivering. Both Link and Zelda shivered too, but they didn’t dare set fire, and to what dry wood could they light anyway? 

Link faced the Zora Domains, as if he could divine the fates of his childhood home from the roiling dark clouds. Which left Zelda to watch the roiling darkness, darker than night, consume her own childhood home. Could pure evil have the emotional bandwidth to taunt her? Zelda had convinced herself it did. 

When she was younger, Zelda hoped she’d get some nighttime message from the Goddess, some dream that would enlighten her, or that would help her understand everything. Failing that, she hoped she’d dream about her mother, and hopefully just to get a reminder of what her face looked like in person, not just in a painting kept in the hallway outside her father’s quarters. Her dreams this night featured her father, aside the flames and death. 

Nothing more portentious than all her usual dreams even before her seventeenth birthday, just her failures condensed into raw emotion. Zelda hated to sleep, all that inaction and an inability to stop her mind from reminding herself of everything she let down. At least she’d trained her body to work very comfortably on very little sleep. Five hours was usually more than enough, if it weren’t for all the chaos in the last few days. 

At least she’d finally let her father down for the last time. She didn’t have to wait for that axe to fall anymore. 

Her occasional jostling awake seemed to not disturb Link, whom she leaned her back against to keep her head out of the water. Had her father seen her like this, with so little decorum around her knight protector- well, it was too late for that.

Link slept hard, and seemed to need it. He’d wake up at the first sign of trouble, probably, but Zelda knew he must have been exhausted. All she’d done was slow him down as they doddered across Hyrule. 

Zelda didn’t want to go to sleep after the last dream. Her body protested staying awake, but her brain wasn’t skipping as bad as before, so she supposed it would have to do. She pulled the Slate from her belt and reviewed what she had in there. 

It looked like the map was detailed enough to show her the towns of Hyrule, down to the building. Zelda zoomed into the town of Hyrule, finding a disturbing number of buildings that seemed to be… missing from the map. She zoomed out and looked at Gatepost Town, and found that most of the town appeared to be intact. She glanced over at Gerudo Town, mapped by the last tower they saw, and realized it also reflected the destroyed pottery building she’d seen earlier, and it also had the tent city of Hyrule refugees in Gerudo Valley. 

Apparently the Towers mapped the world as it is, when Zelda reforged the link to the Slate, but doesn’t update as changes are made, because clearly Gatepost Town should be destroyed. 

The Slate also showed the half a dozen shrines they’d visited, with two of them glowing all blue, the others blue and orange.

Zelda didn’t know what to do with this information. Maybe she could go back to the Central Hyrule Tower, update the Slate, and see just how terribly ruined her kingdom was. The thought of that climb made her let out a small breath of imagined pain and disgust at the climb. 

Something about it must have awoken Link, as she felt his weight shift, small but noticeably, as his hand no doubt went to the Master Sword.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Zelda said quietly, apologetically. Her father always impressed upon her that she should never apologize to her subjects, but she’d found ways to, even if she never said the words directly. “We’ve a little time before dawn. Feel free to sleep a little more.”

“You didn’t sleep at all.” Link spoke in his practiced murmur, not condemning or chastising her. A simple statement of fact. 

“I got enough.” Zelda hadn’t realized he’d noticed, worried now he got less sleep than she’d hoped.

Link shook his head at something but Zelda didn’t ask what was on his mind. The horses had, at least, had some food already, having eaten the flowers within reach that grew naturally on the island’s fertile soil. They would still need some more food, grain would give them more energy, but they were probably better off than Zelda, biting into the hard baked bars that the Gerudo had given them. 

Link grabbed two. Their shared experience traveling together meant that Zelda had made sure to pack extra with the horses and that the belt pouches they both now had were packed with similar rations. Link liked to eat. 

Zelda felt a few drops as the rain began to pick up again. “Because it’s raining so hard, we are going to need to take the main trail. I suggest we cut through the wetlands, even if it’s a little more dangerous.”

The Hyrule army regularly sent payrolls through the swamp, but even before the growing monster presence, it attracted Lizalfos and Moblins. Those patrols are long finished now, so Zelda had no doubt that wetlands were not safe. 

Link nodded. “I’ll check this shrine if you get horses ready.” 

Zelda strangled a desperate sounding laugh, “Is that really necessary? The ancients have been an incredible waste of time before now.” 

Link shook his head, much like he had before, “Stop blaming yourself. You…” he seemed to pause thinking better of his words. “I am glad you are here with me. The ancients and Goddesses failed us, not you. Never you.” He held out his hand for the Sheikah Slate, as if those words answered anything. 

Zelda trembled a moment not sure if she ought to feel offended. “What does that even mean?” Why was it that she felt more confused when he tried to talk? She took the Slate off her belt, and tried to understand what Link meant, how everything couldn’t be ultimately her fault. 

“You’ve always known your duty to Hyrule. Better than he knew his.” Zelda flinched at the reference to her father, likely dead and waiting for eternity in the Temple of Time. 

Link rested his hand on the Slate, but didn’t take it from her. Zelda felt his gaze pull hers upwards. “I trust you.” He then looked past her towards the violet ichor of light that hung over her former castle. She’d stared at it half the night, she didn’t need to look again. Was he chastising her for dwelling on it? Or just thinking about his destiny? 

He took the Slate and began to walk towards the front of the Shrine. “Be ready. Just going to look for a guidance stone.” 

Zelda felt the tears sting her eyes but this was hardly a crying moment. She fed the horses and saddled them as the shrine glowed half blue, a beacon for anyone looking for them. 

Link was wrong, but she couldn’t explain to him how. He was right too. She needed to be ready for his return. Saddling the horses was not something she was great at, but they’d been given bidable horses, not ones meant for racing. 

The horses looked nervous at the sounds of distant ‘blin horns, and Zelda wasn’t afraid to admit she was with them on this. Zelda had her crossbow around at the sound of something behind her, but found it was just Link, trotting back from the front of the shrine. He looked a bit triumphant, “Guidance Stone. Let’s get moving first.” He tossed her the Slate and checked over her work quickly, having always been a much better horseman. 

Zelda wanted to take a look at what was on the slate, but she didn’t take the time, simply guiding her horse towards the river’s edge to cross east, before any bokoblins or moblins could stop them. 

The horses hated it, but they didn’t have much choice, and were rode wet into the wetlands. 

The rain did not slow, but thankfully it did not increase, either, as they made their way across the narrow bridges that lead over the little islands in the Layanru Wetlands, Link leading the way. 

Zelda was scanning for enemies, her eyes forward and back as she worried that there would be a mess of enemies sweeping north from Batrea Lake. On a sweep forward, she spotted some platforms, the rickety construction common to moblins, with figures scurrying forward and back. She made a small noise, but Link gestured seeing them, dismounting from his horse and pulling out his bow. 

Zelda knew the range of the standard Hyrule guard’s bow, and with the rain, they didn’t have much chance that they could take out spotters before their horses were noticed. Link possibly intended to go ahead alone, but he motioned for her to get down as well. Zelda frowned, before noticing that his eyes were trained on a threat directly north, where there were distant lights flickering between the trees. 

Another guardian, damn. 

Zelda dismounted and, as Link removed the saddle and tack from his horse, she did the same, grabbing one saddle bag and putting it opposite the shoulder of her crossbow. 

They were going to abandon these horses, as the guardian would certainly spook them more than they could handle. More than Zelda could handle. 

The horses, freed, elected to mill behind, as Zelda and Link snuck forward, dodging behind trees and into swampy muck to hide from patrols. At Mercay Island, Link began taking out key spotters, and they quickly dashed across the planks towards Zora Road along Rutala River, their only real path into the demesne of Vah Ruta, and Link’s ancestral home. 

The walk was long, and cold but it didn’t seem too much to handle, until they got to Inogo bridge, and saw the Lizfalos at each guard tower.

The Lizalfos welding lighting arrows guarding the Inogo Bridge, watching as Bokoblins fished a body out of the river. The body must have floated from upstream, because Zelda had never seen children Zora this far from the heart of Zora’s domain. 

Zelda realized, suddenly, that she stood alone, half hidden behind a rock they both had huddled behind to examine the scene. There was a brutal scream, one Zelda had never heard before, as Link paced forward with interminable menace, his bow drawn and arrow slotted. 

The first arrow struck the back of a Bokoblin’s head, and the second followed into his friend.

Zelda pulled her own crossbow out and moved forward as well, her eyes darting along the cliff sides to make sure they didn’t have any snipers above. 

Link rolled out of the way of a lightning arrow, but not quite far enough as the halo of energy caught his feet. More than just shocked, he must not have realized what weapons they had. His fury held onto his bow even as his body shook. Zelda fired on the other Lizalfos, throwing it’s aim off. 

Link recovered to fire into the other Lizalfos, who took the arrow in its chest, but didn’t fall. Zelda focused on her own enemy, her crossbow lever nearly slipping from her grasp in the wet rain. It would be able to fire first. Zelda saw the telltale light of another electricity arrow. She dashed towards the river, praying that her surprise angle would throw the shot off enough. The crackle of energy behind her told her to reload as she slipped in the mud of the banks. Falling to one knee, she loaded the bolt and fired. 

Zelda didn’t know if it was her bolt, or the arrow that sprouted almost at the same time, but her foe was dead. Link had already killed his target. He didn’t even wait to confirm the kill before moving towards the still body at the river’s bank. 

Bokoblin blood mixed with muddy water to collect around the child. Zelda had seen a few dead people already, but none were children yet, none were during moments of relative calm. 

Link turned the body over, and Zelda looked away to watch for an ambush while he was affected by the dead Zora. Likely one of his friends. Zelda didn’t know many people, even as the Princess to Hylians. Robbie, Parah, Impa… But Link had grown up a relative commoner, and his home would also be the Zora Domain. 

As if to confirm, Zelda heard him whisper, “Oh, Kayden,” and pick the body up and carry it further inland. 

Zelda picked up the forgotten bow before it got ruined with blood and mud, and followed. Link tucked the body into the edge of the road near the cliffs, where it wouldn’t get washed away. 

Link shook his head, saying, “No sign of wounds… probably electricity. Zelda.” He never said her name outright. It was always “princess”. It pulled her from trying to perform his duty as watcher. She looked at him, and he had his hand out for his bow, his blue eyes on her face. 

She gave the bow to him as he continued, “No Divine Beast until we help save Zora’s Domain.” He wasn’t angry, but absolutely firm.

Zelda was a awash in shame, hurt, and a little anger, and more shame at her anger. She’d kept him from coming here first. She’d made her decision, he followed. Zelda shuddered, from cold and emotion, but only nodded. She loaded another bolt. 

She wondered if he was thinking the same as her. If a child, normally only allowed to go to the edges of the Zora’s Domain Basin proper, was dead from electricity, then Zora’s Domain was under siege too, potentially captured outright. She wouldn’t argue. She couldn’t. Zelda couldn’t save her home, it was gone before she tried. They could maybe save Link’s.

They ran past Inogo Bridge even as the rain seemed to fall harder, causing her to tremble and shake a little as they wormed their way around the winding path up into the Basin. Between the two of them, they were able to take out several more Lizalfos, rounding a bend in Zora River. Her aim wasn’t improving with the cold, and she could see that Link was frustrated that they couldn’t make quicker progress while trying to dodge lighting arrows, or catch their foes unawares. 

She didn’t even have the energy to offer a hollow solace, like that they hadn’t found more resistance. Standing on the Bank of Wishes, she was desperately glad she hadn’t said anything. 

On Oren’s Bridge, a Lynel paced back and forth, while a another rested by a campfire at the far end of the bridge. Two Lizfalos lazily swam in the river.

Zelda wasn’t sure what color they were in the dim light under the stormy skies, but they both had lighting arrows on hand, and were apparently exchanging words occasionally, alert and well aware of one another’s position. 

She glanced at Link, who stared at the two Lynel, and at the ridge across the river they’d have to try to scale to avoid them. Swimming, climbing the cliff, and still avoiding attention seemed nearly impossible. In a wane hope, Zelda pulled out the Slate from where they crouched behind a few trees and looked around using Magnesis, hoping that she might be able to send Link to the other side. 

Clearly, there would just be a convenient metal crate sitting around, she thought to herself exasperated. She was wasting time. She checked the newest feature while Link mulled the problem himself, and saw that Cryosis highlighted the river and appeared to pantomime creating a block coming out of the water. She was guessing it was ice. According to the menus she could read, she could make three blocks at once. 

Zelda considered this, and wondered if this was going to be any help if the platform block was just going to tip over and roll lazily along the river. 

Link was looking at her, studying her, as if she might come up with something. 

She took a breath, and shook her head. “It's a long shot…” She spoke quietly, only wanting Link and the rain to hear. Lynels were notoriously perceptive. 

He motioned for her to continue, and she motioned for him to take the Slate and look at how the Cryosis rune worked. He seemed to understand her plan, but seemed loathe to implement it. It put her in danger. Zelda insisted that she couldn’t swim upstream Zora’s River, even if he could. The look on his face indicated he wasn’t confident he could either. 

The crept further along the path, to make it to a point where they could safely fire on the first Lynel, though he already looked around suspiciously, even as the river burbled a little harder from the increased rain.

Zelda pulled out the Slate as Link pulled back his bow. Something about the tightening of the bowstring caught the attention of the first Lynel, and even as Link released, it bellowed. Zelda began creating a small wall of ice between themselves and the second Lynel, a barrier that could allow them to see the bridge, but not the campfire. Link was already firing again as Zelda stepped away from him, worried for lightning arrows that may target the Hero of Courage. 

The second Lynel bellowed as well, and there was a splash as one Lizfalos leapt from the river to the bank were Zelda was. She pulled out her crossbow, grabbing it’s attention with a bolt in its neck. She couldn’t afford to be sloppy, as she heard the fizzle and saw the flash of lighting arrows, aimed at Link.

The Lizfalos had a spear and Zelda backed away from it as it sped up to her. One stab caught her side, and she felt the burn of a wound hidden by adrenaline. The Lizalfos fell as the thunder of hooves brought the first Lynel to fight Link, not twenty feet away. 

Zelda searched frantically for the second Lizalfos, but only saw the second Lynel, casually pulling back another lighting arrow, as if waiting for the moment to strike at Link, as soon as his ally stepped back. Zelda still couldn’t find the second Lizalfos, so she grasped at her Slate, pulling, to build another barrier of Ice between them and the second Lynel. 

Zelda managed to put an ice barrier between Link and the second Lynel as he fired, the lighting arrow crashing into ice. 

That's when the Lynel seemed to first seemed to notice Zelda. He seemed amused, but cold, as he instead focused his gaze on her. Zelda realized she might have protected Link, but she was now exposed. There was a splash of water too - the second Lizalfos no doubt - and she tripped on the slippery mud and rocks along the path as she tried to build another barrier. 

Zelda had a perfect view of Link parrying a blow from his Lynel’s giant sword. She stared down the lighting arrow of her Lynel, his grin one of simple satisfaction, not malice or hate. 

She also could see the red figure weilding a glowing spear moving as fast as a ballista bolt, heading right for the second Lynel’s chest. 

The arrow went wide as the red blur collided with the Lynel, eliciting a bellow of rage. 

Thrown aside, the red blur landed on the bridge, making the move seem delicate and intentional. The Lynel barely had time to turn to face this new threat, and it - no, ‘ _ she’ _ zelda realized - raced forward to thrust the glowing weapon once again into its body. 

Princess Mipha, for all her renown with healing, made the spear work look like a dance. Even as her foe pulled out its own spear, she stepped out of its thrusts as if they were being performed at one-tenth the speed, and Zelda could hardly track the thrusts. 

The Hylian Princess realized she’d been sitting in the mud, dumbly for five seconds, and pulled herself sitting and struggled to pull her crossbow forward. 

Her bolt hit its flank, causing him to stop in his flurry of attacks, and giving Mipha time to step in and start her own assault. Zelda started to yank back on the lever of her crossbow, but found that arm wouldn’t quite respond the way she wanted. 

Confused, she looked down, realizing, quite suddenly, that her side was dark with red. She also realized that she wasn’t standing, like she’d imagined, but still sprawled halfway into the mud. She’d fallen back down after firing her arrow. 

Oh Goddess damn it, she thought, that Lizalfos had cut her far deeper than she’d expected. 

She dropped the crossbow unceremoniously aside, as she fumbled for the slate, trying to do something to help, but her efforts were for naught. She instead got to watch as Link and Mipha finished off their enemies in relatively quick order, their movements almost in rhythm.

As soon as Link’s fight ended, he rushed over to her, and she tried to wave him off and tell him she was fine, but her mouth instead said, “Whoa, Mipha is really good with her trident.” 

Link looked her wound, which was really starting to hurt now. It hurt quite badly. He said, as Mipha jumped into the river from the bridge to get to them quicker, “Mipha taught me everything I know with spears.”

Mipha leapt out of the water again, spraying them with water as she landed inches from Zelda’s side. “That is not true. Seggin taught us everything, Link. You were just the only one who could keep up with me.” Her delicate, cool and perpetually calm voice corrected him, as soothing on the ears as her the patter of rain. Zelda loved the sound of rain on her study window. 

Link stepped away and Mipha stepped in, her hand already glowing with the Goddess given gift of healing. Zelda was so jealous. She realized she might have lost more blood than she realized. 

The glowing light sent warmth rushing through her side, at first, the pain blossoming for a moment, and causing her to gasp, before it began to ebb. Mipha spoke as she worked, “Princess, thank you for your distraction, but do take care not to tear your wounds open like that. You would have been dealing with a long and painful death if I were not here.”

Zelda would have protested that, but the pain of restitching flesh was still a little much to ignore. Mipha continued, “Zora’s Domain has been taken by Lynel and Lizalfos with lightning arrows. Vah Ruta was possessed by a malign spirit I suspect is Ganon’s doing. I have been trying to figure out what I could do to rescue my people, and have been scouting for assistance from the other realms.”

Facts, straightforward and clean, which Zelda appreciated. She’d always wondered if Mipha didn’t like her, but Zelda appreciated Mipha’s refined demeanor. In another life, she wondered if the princesses would have been friends, rather than just peers. 

Zelda finally found the breath to speak, and answered, “Hyrule has fallen. All the guardians have turned against us. Our refugees have taken to Gerudo Valley or Hateno, according to what I’ve been told. We-” she paused, feeling the pain finally disappear, allowing her to take a full breath, “-helped retake Vah Nabooris, but the Gerudo need time to reestablish and Urbosa lost a foot. We are here to help you take Vah Ruta back.”

Mipha searched over Zelda’s form, as if scanning for any other obvious wounds, and stood, “Not until my people are safe, Princess.” 

Zelda nodded, “Agreed. It does us no good with a town of hostages to try to take Vah Ruta.” 

Mipha closed her eyes, as if absorbing that. She seemed relieved, as if she expected Zelda to argue. She then turned to Link and they embraced. Zelda realized then that Mipha was a few inches taller than Link now. 

Zelda remembered that a Zora could undergo faster maturity if under great duress. She hadn’t realized it meant that Mipha could gain six inches in days. Zelda wondered if she was going to be as big as her father. 

Mipha muttered something into Link’s shoulder, that Zelda couldn’t hear, likely intentionally. 

He muttered, quietly, “I know. I know.” 

They broke apart. Mipha spoke to them again. “We can not take the Great Zora bridge. Vah Ruta destroyed it, and is attacking anyone who enters Ruta Lake there. We need to go around, using the East Reservoir. I will need to swim you across.” 

They nodded, and Zelda pulled herself to her feet. If she couldn’t save her domain, she’d make sure she saved Mipha’s. 


	10. Chapter 10

The road to Luta’s Crossing was punctuated with low conversation mixed with occasionally pauses to kill sentries along the path.

“There are three or more Lynels in the Zora Domain itself, and they’ve been killing anyone who’s resisted and a few others to make a point. Seggin, Dento, and a few others.” Mipha’s calm, collected voice managed to convey gravity, rather than meekness, by her decades of practice. It was a calm Zelda had faked for years, as part of her duties, but that Mipha held with grace even when her kingdom was threatened. 

Link added, “We found Kayden near Inogo. Washed downstream.” 

Mipha spoke, “That is terrible to hear. Kodah will be devastated.” Zelda knew the words sounded rather distant on the untrained ear, but Zelda knew that most Zora mourned in the privacy of loved ones, and would mourn the loss of fellow schoolmates in only a very tight knit circle. 

“Do you know if they have any forces stationed along the East Reservoir? Are they as disorganized as the ones we’ve been fighting so far?”

They killed a few more Lizalfos on the path up to the bridge to Ruto Mountain. Zelda and Link handled them primarily, as Mipha, as good as she was with the Lightscale Spear, could not get hit by one of the lightning arrows without being potentially mortally wounded. 

“Not quite. They seemed to have some form of organization going on but no central leader. These are just their vanguard, putting sentries down river and setting up these camps all along the path. I don’t know where they are coming from, Princess. There are hundreds. They seem to be bubbling up from the pools of water collecting in Vah Rito’s rain.”

“Hundreds?”

Mipha looked over to Zelda, as if she’d asked a somewhat dumb question. “Yes. Many reside in the camps in the shadows of The Veiled Falls, Mikaku Lake, and the Zora Precipice. These are just the outskirts of their forces.”

Zelda nodded, swallowing. The tactician in her said that holding Zora Domain from an assault would be child's play, especially with the Zora on her side. With limited choke points, unlimited water and food, and a highly mobile guard force, the Zora must have simply been so caught off guard that they couldn’t mount a proper defense.

The tactician in her also wondered if it was even possible to storm Zora’s Domain, but she didn’t say that, she just fired on another Lizalfos, trying to hit Link with a lightning arrow while he engaged with the Master Sword. 

“You are quite proficient with that crossbow, Princess. I had no idea.” Zelda could tell that the other princess was frustrated, unable to engage more openly, while Link snuck ahead to handle the bulk of their foes. The Zora’s grip on her spear was tight and angry, the only tense thing about her graceful form. Zelda knew that Link was only acting as vanguard because someone else would be able to save Zelda if they happened to get attacked by surprise. 

“Well. You know my father. He’d have thought it was a waste of time.” 

Mipha considered this. “You know, when I learned my magic, no one else could teach me.” Zelda flinched, already expecting where this would go, not needing to hear more lessons on how she should tap into the goddess’s power. Her right by birth, but accursedly locked away. But Mipha surprised her, “Your father may be very powerful, and wise, but his interference may well be the true waste of your time.” 

Zelda didn’t cry. She was a princess and had only cried a handful of times in her life, that she could remember. Most of them in the last few days. She could take these kind, but far too late, words, with half the grace she envied in Mipha. “I suspect he couldn’t argue its usefulness now.” 

There was a quiet in the air as the Luta’s Crossing came into view. There were no Lynels or Bokoblins or Lizalfos in sight on the bridge, almost unbelievable luck in the current state of things. Link slowly stalked back to them, alert for any more surprises. 

“Where is he and the Hylian army now, Princess?” 

“Last I heard, dying or dead in the Temple of Time. I didn’t have time to see to his final wishes on the way here. The remnants of my army are under Urbosa’s command, except for the bits that went to Hateno instead.” There may have been forces at Akkala Fortress too, but that was as inaccessible as Gerudo Valley at the moment.

“I hadn’t… so Hyrule really is…” Mipha took a breath, “I am so sorry Princ-... should I address you as Queen?” Mipha seemed honestly taken aback. Had she really not believed Zelda when she’d explained earlier that Hyrule was nothing more than a burning rubble heap ruled by Ganon? 

“Hylians do not become King or Queen until they are married.” Zelda was well versed in her former nation’s law. It was her duty. “You can just call me Zelda. I don’t have a Hylian throne to claim ‘Princess’ against.”

“Ah. I... see.” Link returned, and Zelda noticed - and was not jealous of - how he seemed to want to stand closer to Mipha than herself. She was jealous of the relationship they had. She’d like to have someone one day.

Zelda looked again at the bridge and realized that she hadn’t sat down since she’d fallen in the mud when they fought the Lynels. Link too, had been moving full tilt, and it was late afternoon. “I propose we take a small break now, and watch the bridge while we eat a meal. It would be foolhardy to walk into an ambush with an army waiting for us on the others side. I do need to take a moment for myself as well.”

They nodded in agreement, and shared their jerky with the Zora princess. With a small bit of cajoling, far smaller than usual, Zelda begged off to go mull near the bridge and look over Lake Ruta for a way to the East Reservoir. In spite of her exhaustion, she wanted to come up some sort of solution to the almost-certain bridge trap.

Zelda knew that they would like some alone time. It might have been selfish of her to take advantage of Link’s own want for privacy with Mipha. The last time she had used this privacy, it allowed her time to decipher the text inside of Vah Ruta, to discover how to activate and command a guardian. 

This time, Zelda wandered to the edges of the cliffs, looking toward Lake Ruta, Zora’s Domain, and the Divine Beast between them and the captured town. Nothing stuck out to her as useful. Ice blocks would not be fast enough to hopscotch them to the Domain, and it would just attract the attention of Vah Ruta, visibly sloshing back and forth underneath where the Great Zora Bridge used to stand. A spray of water like a massive fountain blasted from the trunk of the Divine beast. It turned into water vapor as it rose and formed the clouds over the wide Lanayru area. Between all the Lizalfos and the two Lynels, Link had scavenged about fifteen lightning arrows, which would stop the rain if they attacked Vah Ruta, but announce their presence all the more. 

Zelda wandered back to look over the side of the bridge, trying not to dwell on the dead cloud over her kingdom, hidden by the valley. She tried very hard not to think of the census numbers from two years previous or how many children were born since then. 

She spotted a ridge a little underneath and south of the far side of the bridge where a small spring drained from the rocks. Nothing else caught her eye. 

She walked back up to where Link and Mipha likely kept their eye on her and the bridge from above, leaning against some iron-wrought crates, likely bearing, or once bearing, Goron goods for sale. No one else would be as insensible as to make shipping containers from metal. 

They grew quiet at her approach. Well, more quiet. Between the six of them - the five Champions and Zelda - there wasn’t a more quiet trio. 

And these two were looking to her as if she might have a solution. She sat down opposite them. She didn’t crumple, a sign of her years of dedication to the regal craft, able to maintain poise even after hours of ceremony with the other nobility of Hyrule. 

They looked at her as if she would somehow conjure some sort of truth from the rain. 

“I couldn’t see anything. I do not think the Slate could get us close enough to Vah Ruta with the ice trick.”

Mipha nodded, “I was thinking. The Bridge leads directly into an upward slope. If I wanted to lure any incoming help into a false sense of security, I’d abandon the bridge, and set something nasty up the hill to Ruto Mountain. Even if we dodge it, then we still have to worry about the long expanse along the bridge where a Lynel could run us down or fire lightning arrows without issue.”

Zelda considered what she remembered of the path and nodded, “Yes. I’d do that very thing myself. What kind of-”

The ground beneath them shook, hard enough to rattle the metal crates on the stone they rested on. Mipha’s hand shot out to Link’s and Zelda frowned, “That felt like an earthquake… but we aren’t close enough to Death Mountain for that.”

All three of them looked north, but couldn’t see anything more than the Lanayru Mountain ranges.

Zelda shivered, hoping that Daruk was alright, but realized that every moment here put the rest of Hylia at greater danger. “Nevermind. I think I have an idea. If you trust me, Princess.”

Mipha looked at her, “Of course, Zelda. I trust you.”

“Well, first, I need you guys to move. And find as much rope as you can muster. 

Link smiled, not playful and cheery, but fiercely, as if he had all the faith in the world she would be able to pull something off. 

Zelda just hoped his faith wasn’t actually in her, but in the luck of the Goddess. They’d all need that. 

\---

“Are you quite certain about this?”

“You said you trusted me.” 

Zelda levitated the metal crate using the Slate. Mipha wore Zelda’s Crossbow on her back, still holding the trident before her. 

“I- well.” The three of them walked Luta’s Crossing, trying to look like a normal set of well armed travelers, levitating an iron crate that weighed more than the three of them combined. 

“We don’t know that we caught all the Lizalfos before they fled back to the army you mentioned. They are likely already on high alert.”

“True enough…” Mipha’s doubtful tone was evident, even if Zelda couldn’t see her face past the crate she was wielding just five feet before her own face. 

There was a slight tapping on the guardrail ahead, three times. Link signalling something. “Lizalfos on the ridge above.” His tone barely carried over the sound of rain on the shimmering mineral that the Zora made their home out of. 

Zelda had long wanted to know how they’d made such material, but the Zora kept their crafts to themselves, and the almost porcelain nature of the material, although much stronger, sold for a fortune. That Vah Ruta could destroy the Great Bridge was a testament to just how much tougher the Ancient Beasts were than anything built since. 

“Anything worse comes, Zelda, and I’d say your plan is best.” The confidence in Zelda’s plan was not exactly dripping from Mipha’s voice. “Confirmed, they have lighting arrows.” Link grunted, and began to jog forward, at the halfway mark on the bridge. He’d rustle out any further traps, and distract from what Zelda needed to do. 

Zelda made a small noise, nearly tripping over the waterlogged rope that was trailing along and behind her. They’d found nearly two hundred feet of rope, half of which was wrapped around the crate. It turned out none of them were particularly good at knots, so they made up for it with lots of enthusiasm. At Zelda’s back were a set of Lizalfos bows, without strings. 

Zelda couldn’t hear the splashing of Link’s feet anymore and assumed he was far enough ahead. “Are you certain this thing can reach far enough, Zelda? And it truly can lift any amount of weight?”

Zelda shook her head, “We stopped Vah Nabooris in its tracks with two swings.”

Mipha said, “It’s just, well, I’ve gained a few inches these past few days and I am not questioning your strength, but I could see that Link was eyeing my new height and I was a little worried- I mean, I am a little conscious of the fact. I mean. Do you think that he’s worried about me being taller - and weighing more - than him?”

“I’m sorry. What?” Zelda could not believe she was hearing this, right now. Mipha didn’t usually talk to her but to offer a hundred years of polite, soothing advice, but suddenly, this?

“Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t want to make him feel bad, but we Zora, we can tell when Hylians have stopped growing. It’s sort of a bit of magic we can all do. I didn’t want him to be self-conscious of- Oh, there are Lynels coming. Your plan is best, Zelda. I am getting aboard.”

Zelda looked up, and saw that Mipha had indeed leapt aboard the crate, looking forward. Zelda lifted the crate to get a better idea of where she was on the bridge, and what Link was up to. “Careful, the Slate can move the crate quickly.” The Zora grabbed a length of rope, and grunted agreement.

Ahead, Link had made it onto the grass across the bridge and was now dodging the novas of lighting arrows clacking against the ground behind and in front of him. A Lynel was taking more careful aim from the slope, and another was chasing Link down. Once Link saw that Zelda and Mipha was ready, he slid to a stop on the bridge, turned, and drew the Master Sword in a graceful motion that caught the charging Lynel by surprise. Link dodged behind the first Lynel’s form, using him as a barrier against the arrows. 

Zelda swallowed and took her eyes off the fight. Three fourths of the way across the bridge, there was a ledge that extended out. Nearly twenty feet between the edge of it and the bridge, a distance none but maybe Mipha could leap. It did, however, offer a route around the steep incline into enemy territory. 

Mipha could make sure the crate and rope remained grounded, and if Zelda screwed up, Mipha would survive a dip into Ruta Lake. Link and Zelda’s fate after that would be less certain, but the plan, if this failed, was for both of them to jump off the bridge and for Mipha to save them. 

The rope reeled out beside Zelda as she lifted the crate above the railings and walked as close to the edge as she could manage, scarcely able to see the ledge she was attempting to land the box on. Link yelled battle cries, and the Lynel roared in fury. Zelda heard the crate scrape stone and Mipha shouted affirmative. Zelda immediately unlatched the Magnesis rune and scrambled for the rope, the other end of which was not too far away. 

Zelda didn’t know much about knots, but adrenaline made experts of fools in the worst of circumstances. She’d also practiced a little after their initial failures with the crate. She tied the rope to the top railing and Mipha gave it a sharp tug from her end. 

It didn’t fall apart. “Link!” 

“Hya!” She heard him as he disengaged, and Zelda pulled the two Lizalfos bows from her back. She threw one to him, awkwardly stuck herself out from the middle of the railing - built for tall Zora - and nocked the rope to the middle of the wood and fishbone bow. They’d padded the bow with extra material to make sure it would slide along the rope, not slice it. 

Gripping both ends of the bow, this idea had seemed much better in her head. She threw herself off the bridge, practically bouncing and skidding down the rope rather than sliding, barely keeping hold as her Slate bruised her thigh. 

Zelda wouldn’t tell others about this in the future, but her eyes had been closed the whole time, all her willpower in her arms and fingers to not let go, until Mipha caught her from running into the iron crate. Zelda felt firm ground beneath her and collapsed into a heap to the side, where the strong Zora woman put her. 

Zelda looked up to see that Link followed behind, but that the Lynel was watching with great amusement. 

“Link!” Zelda couldn’t tell if she or Mipha had yelled louder, but he got the message. As the Lynel’s blade cut through Zelda’s knot with one swipe, Link pulled himself up to grab the rope with his hands, swinging towards the final distance, to swing underneath the cliff. 

“Check if he’s still holding on!” Zelda grasped the Slate and activated Magnesis again, grabbing the crate.

“I’ve got him! Don’t shake the rope!” Mipha was reaching down, more than half her body bent over the edge, and Zelda dropped the slate and moved to make sure she didn’t fall too. Between the three of them, they pulled Link up, and scrambled away from the crate and the edge, as the previously amused Lynel was furiously pulling out his bow. 

The three of them scrambled to their feet around the corner, and continued running, hoping to go along the south-eastern edge of Ruta Mountain, all the way to Rutala Dam before the Lizalfos camps were mobilized. 

The climb and trail were a mess of mud, slippery rocks, and, in Zelda’s case, a slightly twisted ankle. The cliffs that separate them and the enemy above were steep enough that they could hide, at least, and it didn’t look like the Lizalfos had much interest in the Rutala River valley. 

They still could hear the squawking of searching Lizalfos, and the trio didn’t dare slow down for fear that it would just make them easier to find.

So when they found themselves on the carved, nearly luminous stone of the Rutala Dam, it almost felt like the end of one of those dreams where the evil is chasing Zelda in the dark. Except, the chasing didn’t really end, and Zelda felt like she hadn’t slept in days. 

The East Reservoir wasn’t quite full. Even if it had been raining for nearly four or five days straight now, it shouldn’t be. It was a flood year, but even with the addition of water from the rainy season, it would be another week of rain to overrun the dam. 

If it did, it really depended on which dam it ruined first. If it washed over where Zelda, Mipha and Link stood, it would flood down into Lanayru Bay, yes, but also into the wetlands and flood all the way to Gatepost Town. If it flooded Ruta Dam, where they were headed, then it would flood northern Hyrule, perhaps as far as inland as Mabe Village and the Romani Plains. 

Zelda had studied the legends, and found the old watermarks of ancient floods, trying to figure out where the floods may have prevented the Ancients from building and digging before they built the Dams. 

She’d have mentioned this to the others, but she was exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to lay down on the comfortable, wet, cold, unyielding stone and sleep.

Link and Mipha considered the Reservoir while Zelda considered floodmaps.The water was about five feet below the docks on the dam, and Mipha seemed to be conferring with Link quietly. 

Once Zelda realized the furtive glances were for her, she blinked herself back to alertness, “Excuse me. I’m just a bit tired. What’s the plan?” She’d been swaying a bit on her feet, but suddenly realizing they were discussing her caused her heart to beat a little hard a few times, awareness rushing back.

“Well,” Mipha began, “We were discussing the order in which I would take you and Link across the reservoir.” 

Zelda frowned, turning her mind over the question. “Shouldn’t Link go first? Didn’t you mention a major encampment at Mikaku Lake?”

Mipha motioned agreement, but still looked troubled. “While this is true, Zelda, this would leave you unguarded for about an hour and we do potentially still have pursuers. Link is concerned you are not… prepared to handle such possibilities.”

“Ah.” They meant they weren’t sure that Zelda could defend herself while trying to stay awake. 

This felt like one of those mind puzzles she’d found in a book once, where one had to take items across a river, but you couldn’t leave two of the three items behind without issues. It wasn’t particularly relevant to the problem now, Zelda realized, and knew that if they left her alone she might very well just curl up and fall asleep, leaving herself defenseless to any Lizalfos that found her. Now, Mipha could carry Lizalfos across first, but it might sting her back half way across. 

Zelda’s brain shook out from the mixed metaphors. Focusing on the other two, she responded, “I guess I am not safe on either shore. I could create an island of ice blocks somewhere out of range of bowshot, halfway between each dock.”

Link nodded agreement, as if she came up with a brilliant plan. Zelda didn’t feel like she’d earned it. One couldn’t sleep well on ice. 

Mipha swam out on powerful limbs, Zelda clinging to her shoulders. “Zelda, I want you to know how much I appreciate your assistance here. I don’t think I could have saved my Domain myself. With your ideas and Link’s courage, I almost feel like we have a chance to… save my people, at least.”

“Link is doing most of the heavy lifting, Princess. I am just using some ancient technology and a few tricks.” The words felt a little slurred, but that could be just the effect trying to talk around the back of a swimming Zora. 

“I think you may be downplaying a little of your own role. You’ve protected Link time and again, he’s said.” 

Zelda couldn’t think of any time she’d saved Link anything but a little extra effort that he could have managed alone. It seemed like a small payoff for how much he was protecting her. She didn’t think of anything to say, so she didn’t. 

“Zelda. I don’t know best how to broach this difficult topic. I almost feel it must seem like an incredible ungrateful burden to even ask this, here and now, but I feel like I must, before we enter my domain proper.”

Zelda came to a slight bit more alertness, as she realized how much Mipha seemed to be talking around her topic. “Princess, you have not made any burden of yourself. What are you talking about?” 

Mipha was quiet for a bit longer as they detoured a little closer to the middle of the reservoir for Zelda to make her own safety platform. 

“Part of my plan to get us into the Domain involves giving Link some enchanted armor. This is something I have crafted myself, for Link specifically.” Zelda suddenly wondered if this was what she thought it was. “It is a Zora tradition you have may have heard of. For, you see, it is traditional for Zora princesses to craft their beloved armor made for them. It is… I am sure you realize, I love Link, and I do not wish to come between his and your bond and-”

“Wait, does Link know about the armor? Has he accepted?” What bond? Zelda wondered to herself.

“He does. And he has. But I felt it prudent to inform you first, as I do not want this to somehow impinge on our relationship. Or your relationship to him and I-”

“Princess, stop. No, I mean swimming.” Mipha stopped talking and stopped swimming. Zelda held onto the Zora while pulling out the slate to activate the Cryonis rune. While she did so, she spoke, “Listen, I don’t care if you give Link the armor. I wish you both the best. I do desperately need Link’s help to fight Ganon, but we… I mean, I don’t think Link likes me that way. I don’t think he likes me much at all, actually.” Zelda was rambling. She should move on. “Anyway, I know I don’t like him in that way. He’s my guard. I mean, if you asked me three weeks ago I’d be complaining about him needing to follow my every step. We don’t - oh hey, what does this do?”

Zelda found an option that apparently activated Cryonis directly underneath the user. She activated it and created a pillar of ice beneath the both of them, startling them both as they rose eight feet above the water’s surface. 

“I had no idea, Zelda.” Mipha looked at where they stood, Zelda scrambling to get off Mipha’s back. 

“Yeah, I didn’t either. The shrines, some of them, seem to contain guidance stones with additional runes. Some of them have some interesting powers.”

Zelda proceeded to make a couple more platforms, in order to give herself plenty of room to stand and wait while Mipha went to ferry Link to the Ruta Dam. 

“No, I mean, I had no idea you… you had no… interest in Link. I had presumed that he… that your father arranged it so that he would be at your side. Always.” 

Zelda frowned. “If my father intended it, I would have protested. It would be poor diplomacy to take the future Queen of the Zora’s childhood friend from her. I had been surprised your father hadn’t brought it up himself as part of the futures of our kingdoms together.”

“He had. Your father seemed insistent on willfully misunderstanding the circumstances.”

Zelda laughed, though it wasn’t amused, or dark, or particularly emotional. “That, I am not surprised to hear. You could have asked me, Princess. When we get out of this mess, when we beat back Ganon-” Zelda had to keep herself from saying ‘if’ “-I’ll tell King Dorepham himself, and free Link from his knighthood. You two are clearly meant to be.”

Zelda suddenly realized that Mipha did not seem quite as relieved at that as she would have expected. “Princess?”

“My father was one of the first killed by the invasion. I found his… He’d passed away not long after I escaped.”

“Oh.” Zelda knew - despite her flippant response to her own dead father - that most people loved their parents and by all counts, Dorepham had been a loving, doting father and an excellent king, even if Zelda had only met him but a handful of times. “My apologies, Prin- Queen Mipha. I didn’t mean to be rude.” Zora royalty traditions were strictly genetic, and had nothing to do with matrimony. 

“Please, call me Mipha. We are fighting Ganon together, Zelda, and you have just promised me the most motivating thing you could possible provide.” 

Mipha took Zelda’s free hand, and pulled it to her own chest. Zelda wasn’t used to looking up to meet Mipha’s face. “Thank you, Zelda. I am sorry I’ve let formality get between us in the past.”

Zelda smiled and said, “Me too, Mipha.” In better circumstances, Zelda realized that this would be a moment she should let sit, and maybe they could connect more. But Zelda let her sense of sentimentality die with her mother. “Go get Link, I’ll be fine here.” 

The abrupt reminder that they were in the middle of a war against the greatest evil Hylia knows was surprised Mipha, but she nodded and dived into the water to make it to Link, who appeared to be sitting at the water’s edge, keeping watch for pursuers.

Zelda watched for a bit, before sighing, and settling on one of the ice blocks. She really couldn’t sleep on the ice, she found. It might have been rough and textured, but it was still cold and she was soaked through with rain.

Her plan to secretly get a nap while waiting was wasted, and she instead played with the Slate, still attached to her hip, seeing if she couldn’t get the hang of using it with just one hand, and without looking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that Cryonis has an option to "activate underfoot"? Its pretty much useless 'cause you can only use it when either on shallow water or when you are jumping off a ledge over water, not while gliding or when actually swimming. Anyway, Zelda figured out how to use it while in water, because that's more interesting. 
> 
> I hope you don't mind the dialogue heavy chapter. I try not to overextend action, and there are more fights to come. Also, Mipha had a lot to say. As you can tell, I am very fond of personal angst, but not much of interpersonal drama. I know there are some indications that Zelda may or may not love Link in Breath of the Wild, but there is absolutely no question that Mipha loves him. 
> 
> Besides, if you can't tell yet, this is intended to be a true Legend of Zelda. Heir to Destiny, Heir to a Kingdom, Zelda has far bigger aspirations than "what's my line of succession look like". I don't imagine her necessarily aromantic or asexual, but her priorities are currently in the order of "Save Hyrule" , "Sleep", "Sleep more", and "Maybe rebuild the kingdom."
> 
> If you ever want to see some other fantastic reimaginings of Zelda, I definitely recommend googling "Legend of Zelda: Clockwork Empire". Drawn and written before Breath of the Wild was ever revealed, its a beautiful game idea overall by Aaron Diaz.
> 
> Happy chapter 10! I made a map of Zelda's current journey. See it here: https://flic.kr/p/Em2xYR (Spoilers for shrine locations for the base game!)


	11. Chapter 11

The view from the center of the Eastern Reservoir was cold. It was also nothing but anxiety inducing. Wet from the rain and swim, cold from the ice, but what really was on Zelda’s mind was the glow over the mountains of Zora’s Domain. She couldn’t see her castle, her homeland, which she appreciated, but the dying light of the sun was red in the west. And yet, the largest glow of red was to the north, where Death Mountain waited.

The red glow didn’t illuminate the sky so much as the black clouds of soot that appeared to be rising from the volcano. She could see the water on the reservoir ripple from some sort of sourceless rumble occasionally, though her platform remained stationary. Death Mountain shaking again. Zelda shook her head, uncomfortable but unable to do any further investigation from here.

How was Daruk holding up? Did he get forced from Vah Rudania as well? To a lesser extent, Zelda wondered how the soldiers in Akkala Citadel were doing. She presumed the soldiers were more or less safe. There wasn’t much in the Akkala wildlands. Her father built a magnificent fortress at the entrance, ostensibly to protect Akkala, but it was just part of the expanding conquests of Hylians, and a first incursion outside central Hylia for true expansion, a major tension between the Hylians and the other races of Hyrule, back before it became apparent that Ganon could only be defeated by everyone working together.

Zelda had avoided the citadel on her excursions to the Spring of Power, not wanting to be part in her father’s ambitions, and hoping his distraction would mask her own research into the Ancients while her father tried to master the land.

She wondered, vaguely, if both of them hadn’t been trying to deal with the death of her mother in their own way.

She was too tired to dwell on this too much.

Link rode on Queen Mipha’s back to Ruta Gate, overlooking Zora Domain. He had to use the ladder to make it to the top of the wall itself, while Mipha leapt to the top. Both of them began sweeping for enemies, Zelda saw through the scope, so she knew she had a bit of time yet before she was picked up.

She lay down to watch the creeping soot from Death Mountain spread across the sky, blocking out the stars, like Ganon’s mantle itself smothered Central Hyrule.

“Zelda?”

Zelda shot bolt upright. She must have fallen asleep, her feet hanging off the edge of the ice block. Below, Mipha waited, concerned. “Sorry, sorry. I-”

“No need. You only slept for five minutes. I was swimming out to you by the time you laid down.”

Zelda considered this with a sagely nod, already regretting laying down on the ice. All of her sore spots were numb, but she could feel they were only going to be moreso sore when she warmed up. “Even so. You ready?”

Mipha nodded, and Zelda hopped into the water with her. Zelda was reluctant to get back into the cold water, but she also was eager to get off the ice.

Mipha swam the pair of them over to the Ruta Dam. Zelda climbed up the ladder used when the reservoir wasn’t full. The five feet to the platform was wet with more than rain water, as her hand seemed to stick to the rungs more than it ought to.

The dead Lizalfos at the top of the ladder explained that. Link stood close by, and looked down apologetically before offering a hand to help her the rest of the way up. A tiny splash indicated how Mipha herself leapt from the water to the dam.

Zelda just wished she could go one outfit without getting blood all over it. Link’s goddess-given gift must have been to remain clean in the worst of circumstances. He barely looked like he’d been a hiking in the rain.

The splash of water, and the reminder of how close they were to death, woke Zelda enough that she had the sense to check her crossbow, which appeared alright with repeated soakings, and her eighteen remaining crossbow bolts, having saved as many as she could from the bodies of Lizalfos so far.

She walked to the other side of the dam to look down over the edge towards Zora’s Domain. She had to walk onto the buttressing that rose above the dam, making her a little nervous, but Link stepped closer as if to catch her if she fell. She could see a good portion of Zora Domain, as well as the waterfalls that fed the entire valley.

It was becoming night, and the structures glowed with their usual luminous, nearly mystical features, practically negating the need for any fire. There were fires, both torches and bonfires, the harsh red glows giving the blue-white small city an eerie, disturbing flicker.

The fires carried a line all the way back to the base of the Dam, where a small encampment huddled under an outcropping of rock spire around a fire. Moblins, Bokoblins, Lizalfos. At least sixty of them, trying to keep to the warmth and relative dryness of the bonfire they had going, the smoke from burning wet logs rising to Zelda’s eye level and beyond, feeding the black sky, glowing red from Death Mountain. More wandered around, irritably, getting wet in their patrols. There had only been a dozen up here, where Mipha and Link had killed them.

Link and Mipha watched with her. Link’s hand rested on the Master Sword’s hilt, his grip tight. Mipha looked no more relaxed, her eyes glancing over the invaders across her land.

“Mipha.”

“Yes, Zelda?”

Zelda wondered what was going through her mind. Zelda ran when her people were burning under the might of dozens of guardians. Mipha was watching as ruthless killers occupied her home.

“You said they killed anyone who resisted, right?”

Mipha didn’t answer, which was answer enough. .

“That means we don’t have much hope for reinforcements to arrive in the middle of this, do we?

“No, Zelda. No, we don’t.” She did not sound pleased to hear Zelda’s conclusion. Zelda didn’t say anything initially, fiddling with the Slate strapped tightly to her belt, looking to see what Cryonis would show her. “Well?”

“Mipha, there must be more than fifty below, just waiting for an excuse to run into the city at the first sign of trouble. I am certain there would probably be more in the city proper, and Lynels beside. If even half of them are armed with Lightning Arrows… with this rain, they could kill everyone we are trying to protect and save.”

“Zelda, I appreciate your honesty, but I’ve been thinking about just how much danger my people have been in as I watched individual dead bodies float down the rivers I’ve called my home since before the Hyrule throne ever saw your father. Are you telling me you want to focus on Vah Ruta and let my people die?”

“What?” Zelda was a little shocked, not realizing she’d struck a nerve, “No, no, Mipha! We save your people. Sorry, I meant…. I mean I think we need to look to evacuate your people, rather than try to retake your city. They could flee up the northern waterfall, towards the Toto Lake Outpost. Unless it’s been taken completely by the their forces, it should still be manned by our army. We can signal to Akkala Fortress from there.”

“Zelda, I don’t… Maybe.”

“And after we have your people escaping the city, you and Link, and maybe me, can retake Vah Ruta and make sure that no one will follow your people by taking it up to Zorana Ridge and patrol from there. But we won’t have to worry your people. It would take them hours to get up to Toto Lake, even if your people only fled to there. Vah Ruta could destroy a dozen Lynel with one sweep of its trunk. It solves both problems, getting to your people and retaking Vah Ruta.”

Mipha opened her mouth to respond, then clenched her sharp teeth. It took her a long time to say anything, considering the timetable they had, but it was a quick decision. “I have no idea how the Toto Lake Garrison has held these past days. A number of the people who are left may not be able to swim up the waterfall. I… I haven’t seen if Sidon is even alive, and I haven’t come up with anything better with three days of hiding, sneaking and desperation.” She swallowed. “Let’s do it.”

Zelda nodded, stepping back off the retaining boundaries. Link jumped down to the ramp  and began running ahead to scout, Mipha behind with Zelda lagging. She paused to pick up one of the Lizalfos forked blades and stuck it into her belt, before making big steps/skidding down the wet reservoir ramp after the other two.

They’d made it onto the bridge connecting them into the city proper without any alarmed Lizalfos, who were too annoyed by the rain to pay much attention, or had been killed with a single stroke of Link’s blade. Mipha broke the silence, “Lynel ahead. Let’s jump off the bridge here, onto the old retaining wall. From there, we can get close to the communal pools. I believe that if I were going to contain my people anywhere, that would be the most effective place.”

Link had already scrambled half over the wall and hopped down, while Mipha jumped over the edge. Zelda followed a little more tepidly, not nearly as athletic. When she slipped off the slick railing, she closed her eyes, preparing for an painful impact, but resolved to not yelp, for fear of alerting anyone.

She instead landed into something soft and yielding, that caught and slowed her fall with only mild discomfort. Zelda opened her eyes and realized that Mipha really had gotten taller, and stronger, since Ganon’s arrival. The princess-, no, the Queen of the Zora had flash of a grin, not as wide as her brother’s maw, but bright enough, before setting Zelda down.

“Come on. I don’t think they’d bother to patrol this. Part of the city.”

The old retaining wall, for Zora’s domain had been unflooded for nearly ten thousand years, since the construction of the reservoirs. It used to be a proper ring around the city, a defensive barrier when war was not uncommon between the nations.

Now it was just a piece of art, a relic of the past, and a convenient path to sneak around the city in the dead of night.

When they got to where the communal pools were, which could sleep hundreds of Zora, there was clearly two Lynel patrolling the perimeter, as if to guard against any Zora that might leap into the water below. Zelda had already noted that the water below had Lizalfos patrolling in lazy circles, clearly not expecting any trouble.

The trio waited for the patrol to pass, using the retaining walls and the  waterfalls from the everflowing royal fountains to hide behind.

Of course, they now had a twenty foot gap between the retaining wall and the city proper. Only Mipha could make that jump.

The three of them stared at the problem before them, not saying anything yet.

Zelda fiddled with the Slate, trying to see if she could- huh. She could actually form an Ice block to hang vertically from a waterfall. She had no idea if it would fall, or shatter after a period of time, but they had to try something. Shooting an arrow with rope attached would make an awful lot of noise, and Mipha would need to spend time securing it while fighting off Lynels. If she could secure rope without being seen…

The crunching of the ice was hidden by the rush of water and rain, and Mipha grabbed Link and hauled him off his feet. Surprise showed on his face, but he didn’t protest. Mipha took a few steps back then ran forward to leap the fifteen foot gap while cradling Link in her arms.  

Zelda winced, worried that the cryosis block wouldn’t hold them, or that she wouldn’t make the gap, but opened her eyes to see that Mipha had landed and was already placing Link down on his feet. The landing was a little loud, but the constant waterfall did mask some of the sound.

Link began to scramble up into the city’s communal pool area while Mipha jumped back to pick up Zelda.

By the time Zelda had scrambled into the large chamber, enough to house a couple hundred Zora, Mipha was shouting for her people to gather at the rims to the north, and Link was engaging the second of the two lynel’s while the first recovered from the first engagement.

One of the Zora helped Zelda all the way in, and she stumbled forward, trying to control the slate with one hand, while the other kept her balance.

Ice blocks formed in close approximation to the door, the thin sheen of rain enough to form barriers that would prevent them from getting overwhelmed by the forces in the rest of the city. One of the Lynel pulled out his bow and Mipha threw herself at him. Zelda formed her third ice barrier  between a staggered Link and the charging Lynel. Her crossbow trigger was swollen with water, making the trigger stick. Her bolt caught one off guard as a lizalfos slipped past one of her ice barriers. She pulled the blade from her belt to prevent the thing from attacking Mipha from behind. The screaming cacophony drowned out the beating of Zelda’s heart.

At some point, Mipha was shouting again, but this time over the dead body of a Lynel, as she pointed to the north. She ran that way and leapt into the water, her people following, and grabbing children as they did so. It was just Link and Zelda, with a Lynel and a slowly increasing horde of Lizalfos.

Zelda deflected a few blows, and, while the Lizalfos shouted about something in its own squawking language, she swapped to Magnesis and seized the shield that lay half under the dead Lynel.

Controlling Magnesis with one hand was difficult, but it confused the Lizalfos enough. The lizalfos behind cackled something until she angled the shield right and shoved him over the guardrails to hang from the edge of the Zora domain. The jarring clang of the first Lizalfos’s blade into Zelda’s own was enough to make her bones ache and she backed off, trying not to step backwards into one of the resting pools.

Zelda didn’t know how long she’d entertained the Lizalfos trying to get into the chamber, but it felt like forever, having tried to deflect enough blows that she now barely clung to the blade the next blow sure to knock it from her hand.

A blast of electricity caught a group of three Lizalfos, including the one right in front of her, and Zelda hopped back in surprise to find Link already nocking another arrow, glowing yellow with electricity.

She stepped back from her fight, seeing that Link had this handled to look back north, over the lip of the guardrails, down into the water below.

There was a frenzy of activity down there, as Lizalfos converged on the Zora population. Every few seconds, Zelda would see a Lizalfos disappear under the water and not come back up. A number of Zora had already made it to the waterfalls, and it was clear that the Lizalfos were struggling to keep up.

Zelda turned back to help Link, going to each of the Lynel and digging into their satchels for more lightning arrows.

The Lizalfos stopped trying to flood into the room, realizing now that the choke point was a death trap at this point, with Link unoccupied.

The pair of them were able to hold large chamber for now, Zelda nervously gathering the array of metal Lynel weapons nearby to spar with via magnesis, her other hand holding the chipped and sheared forked blade.

It wasn’t until Link muttered under his breath, “You’re bleeding,” while never taking his eyes off of the entrances that Zelda noticed that a lizalfos spear must have struck her in her arm she was using to manipulate the slate at her side.

She’d thought the numbness was more to do with how cold she was, but clearly not. She started to feel the sting now that her attention was off of trying to desperately hold back a growing army while Link defeated Lynel by tricking them into side-stepping into sleeping pools.

She hoped that Mipha would be fine killing those in the lake below. If anyone could handle it, she could, but there were also so many Zora to protect too.

Zelda had more or less run out of bits of this clothing to cut and tie off, so she went to nearby where a Zora had apparently been using a Hylian cotton pillow, soaked, for a cushion. She pulled it out of the water and began cutting it with her ragged Lizalfos blade.

By the time Mipha burst through one of the waterfalls into the same room, Zelda had more or less finished tying the bandage with her good hand and teeth. It really wasn’t a bad cut, but she could do with not bleeding out right then.

Mipha looked cut and beat up as well but she was so severe looking that Zelda figured she knew that she was bleeding out of a few shallow looking cuts. It certainly wasn’t impeding her.

“I couldn’t find Sidon. They others are taking the waterfall.” Mipha also didn’t allow for much time for Zelda to mention her wounds. “They said they believe he was taken separate, that he was with my father. We need to get up to the royal chambers.”

Unsaid, but very apparent in Mipha’s flashing gold eyes, was that this was incredibly urgent, and as Zelda’s mind caught up to the words, she realized why. Every second they were here, Sidon could be seized as a hostage.  

Mipha looked to Link and the barricaded entrances to the sleeping chambers.

Zelda’s mind raced, jumping plan to plan. “Mipha, can you hold them back? I can get Link up the waterfall, but I need this ice. ”

“Yes, just move quickly!” Mipha didn’t sound like she believed her, and Zelda wasn’t all that confident herself. Zelda ran back to the waterfall and clambered onto the other side of the railing, holding on with on hand as she leaned out.

Link shouted something but she had trouble hearing over the rushing water. She didn’t have time to explain and began to build ice leading up the waterfall from the outside, where the royal chambers were at the top of the falls.

Link looked like he was about to grab her and haul her back in as she planted three blocks. She pulled herself in where Link looked like he trying to decide to haul her in or run to help Mipha, fighting the sudden tumble of Lizalfos.

Zelda screamed over the water, “Link! Climb! I will get you up and follow! Get Sidon!”

Link looked at her, then back at Mipha. He muttered something under the roar of water and Zelda was certain it wasn’t something Link shouldn’t have muttered at royalty, but leapt onto the banister next to Zelda, before starting his scramble up the rough ice blocks, abandoning the shield he had behind in his haste.

Zelda gripped the banister again with her good arm and continued creating ice up to the next layer, as her fingers danced over the slate, clumsy as the pain seemed to travel down her arm. Once, she accidentally shattered the ice block that Link still had a foot on, and behind her, Mipha was desperately stabbing at the monsters stalking her.

Link finally scrambled up and out of sight, and Zelda pulled herself back in to shout at Mipha, who was practically close enough to drag her back in as Link had, “Mipha, Link is up! I will be just below you two!”

Mipha glanced at her and up and barely took a moment before diving into the next waterfall, unburdened by ice.

Zelda, however, just hoped the pair of them would be able to get to Sidon in time. She wasn’t going to be climbing up any ice with one arm still dripping blood. Hopefully after Sidon, there would be time for them to go looking for her. Her plan, she’d realized, as Link was halfway up the waterfall, was only half of a plan after all.   She let go of the banister and braced for the water below.

 


	12. Chapter 12

The water below the Zora Domain was as cold as the water in the Reservoir, which shocked Zelda more than the actual impact. The water was already roiling with the water of the nearby waterfall, so there wasn’t much surface tension to break anyway. 

Zelda broke the surface already being swept lazily south by the current, and she tread towards the bedrock beneath the Zora Domain, knowing she needed to get out of the water before the remaining Lizalfos, the ones who’d been patrolling down here before and during the Zora escape, noticed her. 

The bedrock was slippery, but she managed to haul herself up onto the shore, checking first to make sure the Slate hadn’t left her side. Her left arm burned from the effort of pulling herself through the water, and she wondered if the spear hadn’t hit deeper than she thought. She lost her crossbow, either above or in her fall into the water, she couldn’t remember offhand.

Of course, she may just be looking for things to complain about to prevent herself from pulling herself to her feet. Feeling bad for herself, curled up on a rock bed, she was so tired. 

But Link and Mipha were saving Sidon. She needed to keep moving, and at least not get caught. 

As she pulled herself up, she noticed something glowing, and worried she might have stumbled across a hidden Lizalfos campfire. 

It turned out to just be the glowing shells of a few of the native Sneaky River Snails.

Zelda’s reason quarreled with her disgust as she checked the bandage on her arm. 

She has been running full tilt, more or less, for the last eight hours. She was beaten, exhausted, and, most relevantly right now, starving. 

The mostly-carnivorous Zora would eat the snails directly from the shell. She’d even seen the practically native Link do it on occasion. 

Now, most Hylian royalty, when importing the snails, would act erudite and blanche the snails in lightly salted water to remove them from the shell, then saute in butter or oil, as if this was a sophistication the Zora couldn’t manage on their own. 

Zelda didn’t like escargot. If she had time, she might try to prepare it in her lab to see if she couldn’t distill the essence of magic within, that would allow her to travel nearly unseen. 

This is all to say, Zelda really did not want to eat them raw, but was not going to starve for being squeamish. But she thought about that option really hard. 

These thoughts were more or less secondary as she collected the half a dozen snails she could find, placing the largest four in her only remaining intact pouch, before closing it. Her hand shook, not from the cold this time, as she consumed the two smaller snails, knowing the protein would better keep her alive than the screaming voice in her head railed against sucking down the raw food.

If Link could do it, she could too. 

Distasteful business done with, and unable to find more snails in the dim light reflected from the lake’s surface, she tried to figure out what to do. 

If it were up to Zelda, she’d lay low, out of sight and hope the others found her. She really was getting worn out, and wanted to give up responsibility to the others. Her father was dead. Her kingdom was shattered, the people likely broken if not dead. The earth still shook occasionally with Death Mountain’s simmering anger. 

But Zelda knew the others wouldn’t expect that from her. She considered where Link and Mipha would expect to find her. 

Vah Ruta, of course. They thought she was suicidally intent on trying to tame all the Divine Beasts. She might have been, any other time, but not right now. But if she were Link, tired, battle worn, and expecting Zelda to do the most reckless thing… Zelda would be trying to get to Vah Ruta alone. 

Zelda Stepped to the south shore of the bedrock, and formed the first ice-block in the water, stepping onto it as it solidified and rose from the surface. 

Zelda was thankful that she’d spent the time learning how to manipulate the slate at her side with just one hand, even if it was the hand attached to the injured arm. Zelda formed stepping stones out to the edge of the waterfall, just under where the broken edge of the Great Zora Bridge jutted out from the Zora city. 

Zelda then began, very carefully, forming an ice block at a slant, jutting out from the edge of the waterfall. Swallowing hard and knowing if she slipped, she was done, she hopped down. The rough ice wasn’t as slippery as she expected, thankfully. She climbed a bit up the slant of ice, and formed another block, a little to the side of this one, jutting out perpendicular to the waterfall. 

Ahead of her was Lake Ruta proper, which also included an angry Vah Ruta, swimming in lazy circles around the central island and blasting water into the atmosphere above, causing the rain all over the region. 

Zelda carefully made her way about ten feet down the waterfall to avoid being detected. She left one ice block above the waterfall, tall and upright, so Link and Mipha would have an idea of where to find her. Zelda had some doubts that they may not think to look for her here first. But where else was she going to go? This, at least, kept her away from the Lizalfos above, who would eventually stop trying to pursue the Zora that escaped. 

Zelda didn’t have to wait long. There were a few splashes and the roar of a furious Lynel, startling her to alertness. 

Zelda pulled out her slate and created a second platform adjacent to her current one, praying to deaf goddesses it who she hoped it was. 

Mipha yelled for her, over the rush of water, but out of sight. “Zelda!” 

“I’m down here! Just over the edge!”

Mipha’s head popped into sight and she shouted, “Link, right here!”

Mipha let the flow take her over the edge and landed with a graceful flip next to Zelda. The Queen immediately looked up, “Don’t worry, I got him, just let Sidon go!”

Zelda, alarmed at the idea of just letting a child go down a waterfall, tried to say something but his small red form was already over the lip of the falls. 

Mipha caught him with ease - Zelda noticed there was no sign of the Lightscale Trident - cradling the small Zora in her arms. Zelda was worried for a moment, but she saw a flash of yellow eyes and Sidon wriggled a bit in her grasp. 

Zelda looked up again to see Link was and stepped out of his way so he could land on her platform of ice. With a great deal less ceremony but still quite capable, he landed on the ice block, dressed in a completely different outfit. 

In Zora livery and covered with blue, patterned with a smattering of red scales, Link looked like a member of the Zora Royal guard. Though perhaps the Royal Consort would have been a better comparison. Zelda didn’t comment. 

The two of them looked at Zelda, then at each other. Almost smuggly, but a little out of breath, Link said, “Told you.” 

Mipha rolled her eyes, “Yes, both of you are absolutely reckless to the sake of insanity. Hylians.” She answered Zelda’s unsaid question. “He said you’d be out here, halfway to Vah Ruta.”

Zelda just gave a rueful smile she was too tired to actually feel. “Is Sidon alright?”

Mipha’s jaw set. “He is now. Let’s get to the ledge behind this waterfall. Vah Ruta shouldn’t bother us there.”

The ledge under Zora Falls wasn’t large, but it allowed the four of them to comfortably sit. 

“I won’t leave Sidon alone, and I will not take him into Vah Ruta. He’s the future of the Zora, if anything happens to me.” Mipha’s opening gambit was bold, but Zelda hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing on the edge of a waterfall. 

“Okay. I can stay here with Sidon. You two take the Sheikah Slate.”

Mipha seemed disarmed by this, and even Link was a little surprised. Sidon was sitting in Mipha’s lap, looking up at her. 

“Link can swim nearly as well as a Zora in that enchanted suit - congrats again, you two - but I can’t. You know Vah Ruta as well, or better, than I do Mipha. I wouldn’t trust Link alone, he never paid attention when we were showing him around, but I trust you.”

Link sulked at that a bit, but Mipha was nodding at this, thinking. “Yes. I was worried I would need to convince you. Frankly, I don’t want to leave Sidon at all, but…” She swallowed. “That is the best plan. We need Vah Ruta, and you helped me save my people, and my dear brother.”

Zelda nodded. “You guys rest. It will be dawn shortly. Tackle the beast in the morning light.”

Mipha agreed, though, before Mipha lay in the edge of the water, the Queen did patch up Zelda’s arm, the glowing light closing the wound and easing a few other aches Zelda didn’t realize she had been ignoring, like her hip, and bruises on her knees. 

Sidon and Mipha rested in the water next to the small carve-out that Link and Zelda sat on. Sidon held Mipha tightly, as if afraid she might vanish.

Link rested with his back against the cliff wall. Zelda looked over the Slate, checking it for any issues or damage. There wasn’t. It was made of Ancient tech, and was sturdier than it had any right to be. She was just nervous about handing it over to vanish into Vah Ruta. If anything happened to them… Zelda didn’t think about that too hard. 

Mipha and Link left Zelda and Sidon alone not long after.

Sidon stood a few feet away, feet submerged in muddy water, watching after them. Zelda noticed the new looking skin in a ring around his neck, and around his wrists. She suspected there were rings around his ankle too. 

“Hey, Sidon.” He turned his head slightly, to look at her with a single dull golden eye. “Want some sneak snails? I have a few still from earlier.” She didn’t explain that she hadn’t the stomach to eat any more than she had. 

He turned to look at her more eagerly, eyes brightening. He ate the four snails she had on hand, and then began playing in the mud, wordlessly inviting Zelda to join him. 

He was only a decade old, little more than a toddler in Zora years. From what she gathered from offhand comments from Mipha, the pair of them far more resembled their mother, a Queen of a Zora tribe that resided in the ocean, far beyond Koholit Rock. Mipha and Sidon came to live with their father, as the only children from their treatise that could survive the freshwater environs of Greater Hylia. The ocean Zora wanted nothing to do with Hylians, as far as Zelda could discern, when she’d been prompted to ask by her father. 

It was not long before Sidon was sleeping in the water again, gripping Zelda’s half submerged forearm. 

Zelda didn’t know what he had been dealing with for the last few days… but if it was half as harrowing as she imagined, the child deserved the rest. 

Zelda couldn’t hear anything of the struggle by Link and Mipha with Vah Ruta, over the roar of the falls. When the voice reached her, she was instantly awake. 

“Zelda… why?…. Why?”

Plaintive, desperate, furious. The voice startled her full awake from where she’d been drifting, as much internal as coming from beyond the falls. 

Sidon was awake from her startled motion, and looking up at her, alarmed. 

No more words. No voices. Just the hammering of her heart and the falls. She asked Sidon. “Did you hear that? The voice?”

Sidon looked at her with his bright golden eyes, confused, shaking his head doubtfully. 

The sounds of the falls changed suddenly, and they both looked, frightened. 

At first, it looked like the water was bowing inward, threatening to wash Zelda’s little ledge away, but then it parted, like a curtain, and Zelda could see the trunk of Vah Ruta parting the waterfall. Beyond, the Divine Beast loomed like a mountain, but did not do anything further. A splash near its forelegs, and something red and terribly quick swam towards them. 

Mipha’s head surfaced, and she looked calmly triumphant and proud. “Come on, you two. Let’s get to Zorana Ridge and Toto Lake, to our people.”

—

Getting on top of a tame Divine Beast was far easier than boarding a rampaging one. The four of them were safely nestled in the control room as the beast climbed the mountains surrounding Zora Domain. Zelda watched the outside world, eager, worried about what she’d find when they first spotted Death Mountain proper.

“Did you two have any trouble?” 

Sidon shook his head from where he clung to Mipha’s side. Zelda concurred, but asked, “Did you two have to fight another Ganon Blight?” 

“Yes. It was quite fortunate I found this old Zora Spear in the Beast while we reclaimed control. Between the two of us it was much a certain thing. It is much simpler when we aren’t being harried by Yiga Clan.” 

Zelda glanced at Link, who looked more troubled than the situation implied. “Did you two hear a voice too?”

Both of them looked at her, then at each other, their answer evidently a “no”. They looked back at her. Mipha asked, “Zelda, did you hear a voice? Was it the Goddess?”

Zelda looked back out the window. “No it was not. It was… just before Vah Ruta’s trunk parted the waterfall, I heard a voice say my name and- oh no.” 

They’d all been watching the dark clouds over Death Mountain, but as they cleared the ridge, they could see the top of the volcano itself. Lava spewed in actual rivers, worse than Zelda had ever seen or heard of in recorded history. The smoke looked like it was being choked out by just how much was flowing from the volcano. 

As Mipha maneuvered Vah Ruta closer to the north rim, they could also see the bright orange tower sticking out of Akkala Fortress. In the distance, there was a scattering of canon report, and bursts of blue light, the resistance army trying to desperately fight off dozens of guardians, some aloft on spinning blades. 

Zelda traced the line of guardians down, and found that there were dozens more, maybe hundreds, following the path up to Akkala Fortress.

Mipha said something like “I had no idea they were still fighting,” but Zelda wasn’t listening. The dull roar of her thoughts, of people she could still help, having abandoned many others, she barely heard her own thoughts until a thought crystallized. 

“Mipha! Use Vah Ruta to wash out Akkala Span. Without that bridge, they’ll be slowed down. Destroy any others if you can.” 

Mipha looked at her, almost aghast. She knew how furious Zelda’s father would be if the bridge was destroyed. Zelda’s father was dead. Or dying. It had only been a few days. She wasn’t going to assume. Zelda had people to save, and maybe Vah Ruta appearing to aid the Hylians would boost morale. The fortress would need it if they’d been fighting for the past few days. 

Zelda was about to ask her again, when Vah Ruta’s trunk began to move.

Zelda knew the other champions thought their guardians were the most imposing and dangerous. None of them considered just how much water it takes to drown the entire Zora region in rain. None of them had seen that water turned towards the earth directly. 

An hour or so later, the Akkala Span Bridge was connected to air, as the earth had been washed away nearest them, there were no other ancient guardians left within reasonable range of Vah Ruta, the area was wracked with flash flooding, and Mipha was getting antsy about checking on her people at Toto Lake. Eventually, the Lizalfos and Lynels may make their way up to find the Zora. 

Vah Ruta ate up ground astonishingly quickly, and when they came in sight of the old scouting tower, cheers from the Zora reached them. There were over a hundred crowded around the garrison - really more of a scout tower - built in the center of a lake. Zelda knew it had been some concern for King Dorephan, when her father asked if he could man the scouting tower again. It was older than Akkala Fortress, by centuries, and had ostensibly been a way for the Hylians to watch over Akkala, but it was also conspicuously watching over the Zora kingdom as well. 

Only one person manned the tower, that Zelda knew, and she didn’t know the soldier. She left Akkala, aside from the Spring of Power, to her father’s management.

Vah Ruta settled down and several Zora came forward to check on their royalty, Mipha holding Sidon in her arms, even though there wasn’t really a reason for it. Zelda saw a couple of fires and could smell cooking fish. Link nodded to her as they started forward, to meet the small soldier that stood in the tower’s doorway. 

“Your Highness.” He said shortly, not moving from his at-attention pose.

“At ease, soldier. Status?” 

He relaxed but did not move from the doorway, frowning, she felt, distinctly at her. “Your highness. As you can see, Akkala Fortress is under attack. Hyrule has fallen, according to the signals I recieved. Ganon is seizing the land.” His voice was surprisingly gravely, enough so that she wondered if he’d had a throat injury in the past. 

She wasn’t sure if he was naturally prickly, or if she’d rubbed him the wrong way somehow. She was so tired she didn’t even have the energy to chastise him, or be irritated. Her energy was spent trying to look authoritative. It didn’t seem to be helping. 

“That I know, soldier. Is the signal fire still functioning? Are you for lack of anything?” She asked a little quieter, “Are you okay? What’s your name?”

The soldier was taken aback at that last question, but answered after a pause, “... The signal fire is functional. I am fine, the Zora are not causing any trouble. It’s good they escaped. I’ve been living off the land… I’m Wentell.” 

“Wentell. I don’t know what your crime was, or what punishment warranted this post. As long as it wasn’t attempted regicide, I can safely say circumstances are way beyond whatever was in the past.” Zelda dropped her authority voice, plaintive “-I just need your help, and I am glad you are here.” Unless Wentell volunteered to be isolated from everyone here, this was likely intended as a punishment. 

Wentell took a few more moments to process this and said, “Oh. Well. Yeah, I guess you might have more on your mind. What do you need, your highness?”

Zelda took a breath, “I need to signal the fortress, get food, and get down to Akkala, as soon as possible.” 

Link spoke up, “Rest first.” 

“I rested while you and Mipha retook Vah Ruta.”

“You haven’t slept in days.” 

“Neither have you.” 

“Zelda.”

Damnit. That he was so talkative was enough to signal he was willing to fight, but that he used her name… he was being serious. “Fine. And a couple hours sleep.”

Link frowned at that, but said, “I’ll get food.” 

“And that means,” she turned back to Wintell, “Signal fire?”

Wintell nodded, “Up the tower. We switched to mirrors last year. More consistent. Also, when that tower broke through the fortress, their main mirror broke. You think it was Ganon who raised the towers, your highness?” 

“Possibly, Wintell.” It wouldn’t help to explain now. 

Zelda dictated a message, once they caught the fortress’s attention, but knew how to read the responses, which meant Wintell didn’t need to translate. 

Communicating via signalling was faster than running a message, usually, but it wasn’t quick either. She told them it was Link and herself coming down before day’s end, that they’d reclaimed Vah Naboris and Ruta, that refugees went to Gerudo Valley where they were being protected. She didn’t tell them where her father was. 

The fortress had been holding off the guardians for the past two days, which had slowly picked up pace, as Central Hyrule was lain to waste. They had stock and supplies to survive the onslaught for weeks, they’d expected, but knocking out the Akkala Span was a boon. The flying guardians were still a problem, but they were not as smart or good at targeting as the land guardians. 

The fish was so good, Zelda had to keep herself from gorging. Unlike Link, she didn’t have a Bottomless Swamp to fill, and would just make herself sick. 

She looked to Link, who was waiting on her expectantly. 

She sighed, “Alright, two hours. Then you wake me up.”

Link and Wintell shared a look. She got the feeling they were conspiring against her. 

Link nodded, and Zelda took to Wintell’s cot, the most comfortable bed in all of Hylia’s lands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to send a link to everyone who reads to see the mod where someone is working on replacing Link's model with Zelda's. Obviously, this isn't exactly the same thing I wanted to capture in my story, and I know there are a few other Zelda fics out there, but its really cool to see the video of Zelda swinging a sword around in BOTW. 
> 
> Check it out: https://kotaku.com/ambitious-mod-reworks-breath-of-the-wild-to-make-zelda-1825834396
> 
> Also, I am not going to run through each Divine Beast. You've likely seen them explored a dozen times, and there's no reason Mipha and Link couldn't handle it alone. 
> 
> I was going to say something else here, but I can't remember what it was now. Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

Zelda’s dreams were worse over than before. Coherent, focused, and dreadful, she heard that voice again, and all the plaintive begging of the people she didn’t save. No screams, just questions. None of the questions were in any real language, they all asked the same thing. Why did she fail them. That one voice over all the murmur and miasma.

Zelda woke with a start as her Slate beeped at her, two hours later. Link appeared in the doorway, surprised. Zelda turned to the device, turning off the beeping noise. She’d set the slate to alert her two hours later after she lay her head down, knowing Link would try to lose track of the time. She had plans to be smug about her guessing his plans.

She didn’t feel like being smug anymore.

Zelda stood and brushed herself off, though nothing would remove the dried Lizalfos blood still staining her borrowed Hylian guard outfit.

When she looked up again, Mipha was also standing in the doorway, behind and above Link. She had gotten so tall. She wondered if she’d ever be as big as her father, though.

Zelda knew she needed more, better sleep. The looks of concern on Link and Mipha’s face were more than enough to tell her that. She brushed the lock of hair from the right side of her face away, and gave a nod. “Any updates?” She would ignore her obvious state if they would. If they argued, she wouldn’t sleep again.

Mipha had Vah Ruta oriented to defend Akkala if the need arose, but her people were organizing some patrolling of the Akkala waterways, to make sure that there weren’t any surprises up north. The commander of Akkala had already sent a scouting crew to the waterfalls out of Lanayru, and had discussed trading needed supplies and support between the Zora Refugees in exchange for any fish they could catch.

Link and Wintell had setup the abseil gear, so that Zelda could descend the cliffsides. When Zelda asked what Link would do, he just motioned to his enchanted Zora gear and the river. Of course.

Zelda ate again and slipped off to try to clean off, knowing that if one of her father’s generals was in charge at the fort, none would approve of her lack of decorum. All of them were cut from the same cloth as her father.

As Zelda washed dirt and goddess knows what else from her hair, in a small secluded corner of Toto Lake, she wondered if things would go easier for her if she just let the lake’s natural spring current carry her away. She’d likely fall back into the Zora Domain basin, but it would be a lot less work. She’d need to make sure to leave the Slate behind, so Link could finish everything without her. It may go quicker for everyone if they didn’t have to wait on a princess to freshen up at every leg of the journey.

She was a little surprised when she surfaced from the slightly minerally water again to find Mipha sitting at the shore next to her. She hadn’t been under water for more than a few seconds brooding, had she?

“Queen, my apologies. I hadn’t realized you had approached.” Zelda brushed the one lock of hair on her right side from her face. The scar along the left side of her forehead was healed by Mipha, but the hair certainly had not grown back yet.

Mipha seemed disappointed in her, not surprising Zelda, “No, Zelda, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude upon your privacy without asking. Do you mind? And please, call me Mipha.”

Zelda had no right to privacy being out in the open. She was a little iffy about being naked around Wintell, but the dozens of Zora were less of a concern. Different culture, different modesty standards. She’d gotten over her jitters around Link with his exemplar professionalism. Frankly, she didn’t have a right to be much squeamish, and was annoyed with herself for even needing to evaluate her concerns of privacy.

“No, not at all, Mipha. I wanted to make sure I didn’t drop formality in front of your people without permission. And Toto Lake is your property. It is at your behest that my father was permitted to post a soldier up here for scouting purposes. Are your people well? Is Sidon?”

Mipha took a seat at the edge of the lake, and Zelda moved aside to allow her more space to get into the lake if the tall red Zora wished. “Yes, Zelda, my people are fine. A few were injured in the escape, but most that survived the invasion survived our escape. And Sidon is safe. He’s still a little clingy, but Link is watching him. Are you okay, Zelda?”

“I’m glad to hear it. I’m fine. When I get to Akkala Fortress, I will make sure to coordinate that we share whatever we can with yours. I am sure they could use more food, and scouts along this ridge. Part of why I am worried about my appearance is that if it’s General Xanter or Ohgrin, they’ll dismiss me outright if I don’t look presentable. I hope it’s General Scavin.” Of the generals, Zelda got along with Scavin best, but only because when she was younger, he respected her ability to beat him occasionally at the games in the royal library. Zelda thought Xanter likely saw himself as a potential future King, being the youngest and having the highest nobility rank among them. None of the generals really considered her beyond being just another tool, in her plans against Ganon.

“Thank you, Zelda, but you’ve done more than enough for my people. I am worried, however, about you.” Mipha set her feet up to her knees into the water.

Zelda wrung out her hair, and prepared to get out of lake, “I’m fine. What I am thinking, what I am worried about, is how we haven’t seen or heard any Rito leaving Hebra. Of all of us from Greater Hyrule, they have the most mobility and could have sent out scouts. You’d think we would have-”

“Zelda.”

Zelda met Mipha’s stern yellow eyes - annoyed, sharp, disappointed - and looked away nearly as quickly to the stiff towel Wintell had lent her, and the climbing clothes that ought to fit her, mostly. She’d still have to wear her own boots. She knew what was coming from Mipha. Zelda steeled herself for it. Her already stiff shoulders hurt for the effort.

“Zelda,” Mipha’s tone was softer now, but no less insistent, “I think you are pushing yourself too hard. You are going to get yourself killed, trying to do everything, trying to save everyone.”

“I won’t, because I haven’t been trying to save everyone.” Zelda began to get out of the water, drying off with the towel and not looking at Mipha. “I’ve been deciding who lives and who dies by my intervention for- for- for five days now.” She had to count them, it took her longer to grasp at how much time had passed. She sounded weak. “I do nothing that Link isn’t expected to do. Quite a bit less, actually.”

“Zelda, you can’t carry this all on your back. Link is has trained for this, he-”

“Mipha, you cannot possibly be more absolutely wrong.” Her words came out hotter than a Goron’s forge, but not as strongly as Zelda truly felt. “Link represents only one third of the Triforce, the raw manifestation of the Goddess’s will. Supposedly, I represent a different third of the same force. And I have trained all my life, only to fail. Yet still, everyone who doesn’t see me as a failure is looking to coddle the Princess.”

Zelda felt vulnerable, terrible, standing in just a towel, glaring at Mipha, who seemed taken aback by the venom in Zelda. After a moment, Zelda decided she could finish without her voice cracking into sobs.

“I don’t have the privilege… the right to stop until I break. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl. Link is the same, but no one tells him to take a break. I know that this isn’t healthy. But it is my duty - bound by cursed prophecy - to do this.”

Zelda paused, holding back a dozen complaints, hundreds of tears, and a thousand regrets. “Thank you for caring, Mipha, I don’t always have the luxury of sympathy. I just can’t do it right now.” Zelda didn’t know, exactly what ‘it’ was, but whatever Mipha wanted to offer was part of it. Urbosa would understand… but she’d also be trying ‘it’ too and be on Mipha’s side right now. Zelda would rebuke her too.

Mipha stared at her, unblinking, in that Zora register of surprise and consideration. Zelda couldn’t think about how sad Mipha looked, and instead began to get dressed, quickly, because she felt so exposed. She’d already cried twice in the last week. More than she had in years. She needed to maintain control.

Mipha waited for her to dress, as if Zelda were still talking, but motioned her understanding when Zelda turned to face her again. “Sorry, Zelda. You of all people have had enough lectures on what is good for you. I trust you.” As if what she said followed logically from Zelda’s heated words. “Is there something I can do for you then?”

Zelda tied her hair back with the bandanna she had as a black column of smoke rose from Death Mountain. “ If you continue to support Akkala Fortress from here, and watch after your people, you will be doing more than enough. Keep control of Vah Ruta, and be ready to use its power on Ganon.”

Zelda began abseiling down the cliffs of Zorana Ridge not long afterwards. There wasn’t anyone below yet, but she knew Link would beat her, and Wintell had signalled the fortress that Zelda had begun her descent, which would take some time.

No one worried for her ability to abseil down the cliffs. She’d done far more when they were unearthing the Divine Beasts. It was something she was actually comfortable doing, rather than riding horses.

There are few things that Zelda hated more than silence. Sleep was starting to compete, these past few days. Loathing herself was an old friend. Somewhere on her list of hates were her father and certainly the Goddess Hylia, though she’d never tell another soul that. Ganon should have had been on the list, but somehow it wasn’t as pressing. Forces of nature were hard to really hate.

Zelda kept her attention on the belay, and her footing, certain that if she let herself get absentminded in her melancholy, she’d fall to her untimely death, among the soldiers and Zora below. How embarrassing.

Link waited at the bottom, along with a trio of soldiers, five horses, and two Zora. They all had been more or less waiting on her, one of the Zora feeding a particularly calm nag. Zelda motioned away their salutes, asking, “Don’t worry about formality. How’s the fortress holding up, Officer…?”

The tallest of the men relaxed and stated, “Officer Yeltin, your highness. It is better now, with Vah Ruta washing out the main road. The cannons have been able to take out their flying sentries. Looks like the Ancients or Ganon didn’t plan for black powder.” He was smoothly smug about this, though Zelda was glad that one of her father’s projects did end up proving useful.

“Is it true, your highness? Has Hyrule Castle fallen completely? And our town?” One of the younger soldiers, barely older than Zelda herself, if she were any judge, blurted out.

She shook her head, “Ganon has seized Hyrule Castle for himself, and the town is razed to the ground. I saw the beginning of it myself. That’s why Link and I have been reclaiming Divine Beasts, so we can beat him back.” She didn’t have to explain herself to these soldiers. “What have you done with the civilians coming this way?”

“Most of them unable to fight, we’ve sent them to Shadow Hamlet. Some we’ve given arms. One of the lead scientists for the castle, Robbie, has been helping us keep the black powder stores and balance right.” The officer answered again, more grim with Zelda’s answer.

“Robbie? He’s alive?” Zelda almost felt her heart lift a little. Someone she knew, an ally. A friend. She hadn’t held to the idea that anyone had survived. He’d have been in the middle of Hyrule, working with the Ancients and his Guidance Stone, she’d have thought.

“Yes ma’am, and brilliant, when we can get his mind on something useful. The General has been setting up the new tower as an improved vantage point, but Robbie keeps trying to disassemble it to see how it works.”

Zelda was not surprised. “Which general is it?”

“General Ohgrin, your highness.”

“Ah. Then we best not keep him waiting.” Zelda’s mood sunk, as she introduced herself to the nag, and bid farewell to the Zora for now. Of course it would be Ohgrin. .

The Fortress was nearly as grand as Castle Hyrule in a way, but smaller, and far more oriented towards military purpose. They entered through a small hidden side entrance, rather than the main gate. The interiors were well trafficked but dusty, like they had been doing construction.

Link noticed as well and seemed confused, and Zelda explained quietly, “The tower,” which prompted understanding. The tower must have destroyed a large amount of masonry, the motion and pressure causing some of it to crumble. At one point, they passed by the Tower, which appeared to be open partially to air, with wood and rope rigging being used by the soldiers to go up and down it as a makeshift stairwell. Zelda hoped no one got killed when it rose.

They were lead to a room Zelda had thought was once a small officer’s library, not the main war room. She remembered the war room would have been in the center of the castle, and likely demolished.

Inside, General Ohgrin waited. He was a tall, wide man, and well practiced with the same blade and bow he required of all his men. Tactically, he was the best general to hold this fortress, too, with a keen mind for baiting traps and the best understanding of the weaponry and science behind the black powder. He also despised Zelda’s grandfather for initiating the mix-gender policy in the army, and believed that women’s roles were in the home, not on the battlefield. It wasn’t much to guess how much he thought of her.

Her arrival announced, General Ohgrin already looked like he wanted her out of his sight.

“Princess Zelda.”

“General Ohgrin.”

“Your outfit is not befitting a loyal servant of the Goddess, your highness. Did you not meet the Goddess at the Shrine of Wisdom as tradition and prophecy foretold?” Striaght to business. Not a surprise for Zelda.

They stood in a makeshift battle room. It was dusty and well traveled. One of the bookshelves must have fallen over at one, the books all haphazardly shoved back in, sideways if needed. The disarray must have galled Ohgrin to no end.

“General, I did not prioritize my appearances over practicality, as I see you have done here. How is the fortress structure holding up?”

Link stood a few paces behind me, at attention. As a Royal Knight, he did not actually fall under the same chain of command that the general held, but Link, Zelda had gleaned, learned to remain unobtrusive by sheer will of silence and decorous behavior. Zelda wished she’d learned the same.

The general frowned at the room. “When Ganon’s power welled up from the castle, these towers did too. Not to worry, the engineers designed this fortress to stand against a Goron artillery team for weeks. It’ll hold. Report on what you’ve seen. Why has it taken you so long to get here? Where is the king?”

Zelda didn’t need to ask why the engineers had designed the building to withstand a Goron’s assault. “I was leaving the Spring of Wisdom when Ganon’s malevolence rose from the castle. We headed first to see about rallying the troops at Hyrule Garrison when the towers rose.” Zelda already knew what she’d hear if Ohgrin learned she’d activated the towers.

“More than fifty Guardians were already leaving the town, with more left behind scorching the buildings. It was at this point, we saw that the Divine Beasts had been attacked by the same miasma that affected the castle. We decided on a tactical retreat to Gerudo Valley to help reclaim Vah Nabooris and rally the Gerudo to defend what I calculate to be upwards of twenty percent of Hylians escaping the plains. We then circled towards the Zora Domain and reclaimed Vah Ruta as you can see.” Zelda took a breath, not wanting to say the next part, “We have heard reports that my- the King was gravely wounded on the plateau of Old Hyrule, but the primary gate had been so demolished, and out of our way that we couldn’t confirm.”

“You abandoned the crown to collect ancient toys?” Ohrgin’s disdain wasn’t even hidden by a veneer of deference.

“General, I will remind you that I am the heir to that crown and have not lost that. I may very well be the very crown you are pledged to serve. And Vah Ruta did save your army from over a dozen guardians that still would be assaulting this position if we did not reclaim it.”

Ohgrin gestured away her comments. “The fortress would have held. We have more than enough to hold for weeks, and there can’t be that many damned guardians still functional.” He offered her a small smile hidden by his beard and the contempt in his eyes, “As for my authority, Princess, I am pledged to the current ruler of Hyrule. While I advised against his attempts to intercept you, I have no confirmation of his death. As a result, my authority still stems from him.”

Princess Zelda could play this game. She’d been expecting it. She just wished it didn’t have such dire consequences.

“By no means do I mean to change your duties or otherwise impact your current station, Ohgrin, you are our nation’s best strategic general. I only mean to say that you have my complete support in your role as I move to reclaim Vah Rudania with Link. I need to collect some-”

“Ah, no, princess. I think not.”

Zelda responded instantly, “General, You may not be able to see from here, but the physical manifestation of evil rests in the hollow of Hyrule Castle. It is my duty to bind that spirit back, before it consumes the world.”

Ohgrin gave her that look. The one she knew from experience just meant, ‘your father indulged you too much, child’, because he’d said it more than once to her as she grew up. He spoke, “Princess. Until it is made clear to me that your father is dead, it is my duty to protect the throne and its heirs. For now, you are going to stay here.

His gaze flicked away, back to his little model and map of the surrounding area. “Maybe, when my men have had time to sleep more than five hours and bathe as you clearly have on your countryside travelling, I can arrange an escort so you may pay your respects to the goddess at the Spring of Power.”

Zelda’s eyes burned, tearless, and her jaw hurt, even as she tried to work it. When her eyes met Ohgrin’s again, she looked away, and said, “Then allow me some time to work with Link and the Slate. He will need it as he goes up to Death Mountain. He’ll need supplies-”

“And equipment no doubt. The King’s first knight can do as he wishes.” Ohgrin acted like he only just noticed Link in the room. “We’ll get you some flame break armor, to replace that flimsy, and no doubt slimy Zora armor.”

Zelda could see Link shift out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t look to guess at his response to that comment. “There are a number of Zora refuges up on Zorana and now in Akkala River. I’d like to make sure they can trade and get whatever supplies they need.”

“Princess, I am not in the business of feeding the mouths of those piranhas, but if you can get at some of the supplies at the base of the fortress, then they can have them. With the tower’s birth from the ground came a black ooze that ate three fingers of one of my best archers. If you are eager to have something to do, you can ‘fish’ for supplies for fish down there. But do dress befitting your rank, Zelda. I have a chest of your things here, from the last time you stayed here. They’re old, but a woman of means should not be in pants.”

He motioned dismissing them, but as they left, Zelda heard him say, “And Princess, don’t try to escape. I have already alerted everyone that you are not to leave without my explicit approval.”

Link tried to meet her eyes, but they still burned and she didn’t want to start crying.

Zelda lead him away down the vaguely familiar hallways of the fortress.

Link and Zelda separated after a few minutes of convening. Zelda had already convinced the honor guard that tried to attach themselves to her that they would be better off getting sleep. They looked like they’d been in a siege for days, which was true enough. She promised them she wouldn’t try to escape the castle to fight Ganon alone. Link still didn’t like it, but he left without her, as well.

Only slightly lost in a fortress she associated with her father, thus hated, she turned down one hallway that lead to the small royal suite, which had apparently survived the tower’s ascension, where a small chest of her stuff should be.

A patter of boots behind her. Her blood ran cold and she wondered if a Yiga assassin had gotten in. She spun, reaching for the best set of weapons she still had on hand. A piton and hammer, from her climbing kit, still in her belt. She ducked to the side, planning to start screaming for help as soon as she knew if she’d have the breath to spare. Better to save the breath for a fight if need be.

She found her weapons nearly jammed into a small form of a young man, a few inches shorter than Zelda, a nervous, energetic grin on his face as he considered Zelda’s implied threat. “Zelda- I mean, a-ha, Princess! I am glad you are safe!”

Robbie looked more or less untouched by Calamity Ganon’s arrival, aside from the smudges of black across his face and dusting his clothes, matching his black hair.

Zelda’s heart stopped trying to escape her chest to fight the imaginary threat, or slowed its thrashing. “Robbie. I heard you were here. Are you okay?”

Robbie kissed his fist and pumped it, his most recent ‘pose’ - a product of his effortless, constant energy. Zelda wished she could steal it. But she was glad he was in good enough health to still be himself. Not that it wasn’t exhausting to be around in its own way.

“Right as rain in Hateno, ma’am!” He seemed to catch himself, “Ah, not that Ganon’s return is good, of course. But the Towers! All the Shrines!”

“All the guardians?”

“Ahhh, you sound like the soldiers. If it weren’t for Ganon, these would be amazing times.” A little of his energy drained, “And you look a little like the soldiers on the front line, too. Are you okay?”

“It’s been a long week. I had to get Vah Nabooris and Vah Ruta working again, and I still-” She paused, not sure who was in earshot. “I need to change. Do you have anything pressing? Can you help me?”

“Sure, princess, anything for you.”

“Good. Now keep your voice down, or else you might wake some soldiers.” Robbie nodded vigorously, but didn’t say anything. “Ganon didn’t activate the towers, that happened when…”

Zelda told him the important details, the one’s he’d care about, at least. By the time she finished explaining, having changed into one of her dreadfully bright and younger outfits, he was nearly brimming with energy again. Her gown was deep pink on top, lighter pink below, with a solid, gold leaf belt buckle, with the vivid blue of the Hyrule tabard down the front.

It was a little too short for her, and a few inches of her boots still showed. The useless, parchment thin slippers in the crate wouldn’t fit, and if Ohgrin challenged her on that, she already threw them out.

“This all sounds incredible, Zelda.” Robbie said through the door as Zelda considered the bed for a moment, momentarily dizzy. She shook herself free of that. “Where’s the slate? We can go activate this tower now!”

Zelda opened the door where Robbie stood, still covered in black powder smudges. “Link has the slate.” She felt naked without it. “- and we need to head into the basement. Ohgrin said we could provide supplies to the Zora if I could salvage them from some sort of muck that is bubbling up from beneath the castle.”

“You gave Link the slate? Wow. I’d never give my Guidance Stone to anyone.”  
“It’s in good hands. And no one wants a massive stone that takes four horses to pull. Have you heard from Purah?” Robbie’s Guidance Stone had activated a few key features in the slate, particularly regarding some of the language and user interfaces.

Robbie shook his head as he fell in step behind her. “No, last I heard she was working with the Sheikah in Kakariko Village.”

“I didn’t see her or Impa when Calamity Ganon struck. Hopefully she is laying low.” Zelda stalked past the stairs and towards a separate goal.

“Ah, Zelda, those were the stairs.”

“I need tea, and some food. After that, we can do some cleanup.”

“You know princess, you are taking to Ohgrin’s orders very well. I didn’t think you’d stay.”

“Robbie, I can’t imagine I will find any supplies for a journey down there, and if I did, I always follow orders exactly as I find them.” Zelda glanced back at him, to give him her look of ‘drop it before I get into trouble’.

He caught it. “Oohhh. Gotcha.” Another fist-kiss and pump. “Yeah. Lets get some tea!”

The journey down to the bottom of the castle was mostly uneventful, interrupted only by guards who sometimes stopped to acknowledge Zelda, and sometimes didn’t. They all looked tired. The guard who had served her tea and food had initially refused her, until he turned to see who she was. Privilege had its perks. Rations were scarce, but better than nothing.

The entrance to deep storage was protected by a single guard, who was using the second shift of the day to do some light napping. After Zelda explained what she was doing, he unlocked the door and handed her a lantern. Robbie and Zelda crept down the stairs in a small ring of light, barely showing the edges of the stone walls around them.

As they got to the bottom of the stairs, Zelda said, “Now that we are a little more alone,” her voice was low, but it still sounded huge in the storage room. “- I can tell you what we are looking for. I need one of the big metal crossbows, and the matching bolts used by the marksmen, I need treated rope and some grappling hooks. I need proper pants, and a treated robe to cover this silly dress. Treated Gloves. Basically everything that would get me onto Death Mountain. Link is trying to get two sets of Flamebreak armor, but I will try myself, though it will make sneaking out significantly harder.”

“Ah… you might be able to find the clothing down here, but the armor and weapons were all moved to the secondary armory. It’s just supplies down here.”

“How do you know that? My father always insisted on mixed storage, so that there were fallbacks to fallbacks.”

Robbie gestured in the dark, hard to see with the little lantern. “Ohgrin wanted the weapons all consolidated when the central armory was destroyed by the tower.”

“Goddess damn it.”

“Princess!”

Zelda sighed. She was so tired she was cursing aloud. “My apologies. Then I need you to get me that crossbow with bolts. We are already underprepared. Link can’t waste time trying to protect both of us.” Zelda turned to face Robbie, their faces illuminated red by the small lantern’s light. “Can you get one?”

“Yes Princess but… How?”

Zelda searched for excuses, skipping over ones that she would use for herself. “Tell them… Tell them you want to make some Ancient destroying bolts. That you want to see if you can’t craft something from the cores that might interfere with their function.”

Robbie’s eyes lit up, “Oh, that’s brilliant. Actually, I’d been thinking about it, and you know how my darling guidance stone had some of that information on how their weapons worked? I think I might be able to use her to-”

“Robbie. The crossbow and bolts are for me. I don’t have time for research.” He looked a bit crestfallen, and she added, “It is a good idea. Actually, it gives me a few good ideas. Tell them to also prepare your cart. You won’t have a better chance to get out of Akkala fortress than in the next day, before the guardians return. But make sure you get that crossbow for me.”

“Will you be okay down here alone? Rumor has it a guard lost three fingers to the black muck, it just dissolved his flesh.”

“I’ll be fine. Remember. Crossbow, prepare your exit. Come back here when that is in motion.”

“Can do, Zelda!” Another of his ‘iconic’ gestures. She watched him go back upstairs, towards the small rectangle of light framing the door.

Zelda turned back to the storage room, in particular watching where she put her feet as she edged towards the wall, where a couple more lanterns should hang.

She began lighting them, careful of where she dripped any oil, but she froze as she heard a voice.

“ _Zelda_.” It was whispered, indistinct, but real.

Zelda looked around, and found her eyes drawn towards the gloom at the back of the room.

“ _Zelda. Is… is that you?_ ”

She took a cautious step forward. “Hello?”

Light began to bloom, red-orange and bright. At first, it manifested into the slitted eye she remembered on the pedestal of Vah Nabooris, but the slit narrowed and rounded. Even in the gloom, Zelda could see the round, brown eye at the orange center.

“ _Zelda. It is you._ ”

The whisper sounded so familiar, the scene so surreal. She took another couple steps forward her lantern forgotten at her side. “Father?”

The brown eye seemed to recognize her, and her father’s voice and eye seemed to sharpen. Zelda steadied herself on a nearby shelf, certain that this wasn’t real. She pulled her eyes away. The ring of light at her feet felt smaller, dimmer, in the gloom of the storage room.

No, that wasn’t it. Just inches from her feet, a dark substance seemed to absorb the light of her lantern completely. She frowned, trying to understand, when the voice rang out, sharper than before.

“ _Zelda! Why?_ ”

Zelda’s eyes snapped back to the orange rimmed brown eye of her father. She swallowed, and her grip on the shelf next to her tightened. She knew what this was.

“ _Zelda, why did you let me die?_ ”

It was the first coherent accusation she’d faced, but she’d been expecting it since she abandoned her father. That it was flung at her by her own father’s voice and piercing gaze, she whimpered. She lifted her foot to take a step forward. She stepped back instead. “ _Zelda!_ ” The voice barked at her.

She shook as she set the lantern down on a shelf, afraid she’d drop it and start a fire. She looked down, ashamed, dreadful, and afraid. Nothing new, when confronted with her father. She’d that was over.

“ _Zelda._ ” The voice softened, cajoling. She couldn’t bring herself to step away. “ _Come here._ ” Her body shook, in rolling waves, not unlike the shaking of the earth still emanating from Death Mountain. Her teeth chattered a moment, until she clenched them shut. “ _Zelda, please._ ” But she didn’t step closer.

“Zelda?” A different voice brought her out of her reverie. She found herself still standing at the edge of the carpet of black muck hiding the back of the storage room. That, or it had creeped closer in her distraction.

Behind her, she heard the clamoring of someone coming down the stone steps. Robbie.

“Yes, Robbie, I’m here.”

He had a quiver haphazard over one shoulder, and the big steel crossbow in the other hand. “Hey, sorry I took so long. I had to get some horses rustled up and I- Are you okay?”

“Give me the crossbow and a bolt.”

“What?” Robbie seemed surprised, concerned, by something on her face.

The earth rumbled again, another earthquake. “ _Zelda!_ ” The voice stopped cajoling, another command, causing her to flinch.

“Did you hear that?” She asked Robbie.

He handed the crossbow over, a little reluctant. “The earthquake?”

Zelda shook her head as she gestured for a bolt. “Nevermind.”

“What are you- Oh wow! That is one big glowing eye!” He finally looked past her into the gloom. She wondered if he even saw the brown eye at the center, if he couldn’t hear it increasingly agitatedly trying to convince her to stop.

“Yes. I am glad you got the crossbow so quickly. Did you have any trouble?”

“I had to wait a few hours for the shift guard to change, but not after that.”

Zelda examined the crossbow in her hands, making sure she understood the mechanism. The crank was stiffer than she was used to, her arm aching a bit with the pull. She started to load the bolt, “Hours? I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”

Robbie shook his head, “No… I’ve been gone for three hours. I saw Link leave a few minutes ago.”

Zelda sighed. She sighted the crossbow on the eye. It snarled, narrowing, all her father’s disappointment intended to melt her on the spot.

The bolt landed true, and she nearly sank to the floor as she saw it pop and dissolve, the malign tar shriveling and fading, like a bad dream. “Good shot! I had no idea you could use a crossbow.”

She wanted to sleep so badly. “Sorry, Robbie. Would you help me collect goods here, now? I lost track of time.” She handed the crossbow back to him, knowing if she was caught with it, she’d get into trouble.

“Sure. Why don’t you sit down, and let me grab stuff? You look… you look tired.”

“Just for a few moments. I need to get some grappling hooks, a set of gloves and cloak that won’t burst into flames and-”

Robbie did his gesture and waved her off. “I got it. I even have a plan to get you out of here!”

Zelda sat down on a crate marked as containing canvas and linens. “So, tell me your plan.”

That Robbie’s plan, stuffing Zelda into the edges of the crate he held his ‘darling’ guidance stone, and carrying her out of the fortress to free her at the foothills of Ze Kasho Shrine, was fairly solid, but he forgot that Zelda still needed to escape the fortress unnoticed.

Announcing that she was feeling ill at dinner - something she wouldn’t need to fake to appear as real - she locked herself into her quarters. Her quarters had a window in it, which meant it was up to her to shimmy out with a grapple and rope, and sneak her way into the stables, where the cart waited.

Zelda found the sneaking part trivial when her life was not at stake, but she nearly slide the last fifteen feet down the rope. She left it behind, knowing she wasn’t going to remain missing for longer than morning. She only needed an hour’s lead to be well on her way. Robbie had cleverly arranged a night-time getaway already, intending to hide from Ganon in the cover of the night.

The silent guidance stone was not pleasant or comfortable company, and Robbie tried not to apologize too loudly as he nailed the box shut. Zelda practiced even breathing and tried to not imagine that orange-brown eye appearing in her pitch black coffin.

She didn’t know if that was just her waking mind filling the void of black, or if she actually dozed for that period, her nightmares as terrible as reality.

Some time later, after the cart started and stopped multiple times, there was the sound of knocking on the crate and her heart hastened long enough to catch Robbie prying the lid open. She sucked in fresh, but hazy air, wrapped herself tight in the supposedly fire resistant cloak with metal mesh built into it, and hurried up the hills to a blue glowing Ze Kasho, her backpack on and crossbow strapped to its side.

At the top of the hill behind Ze Kasho, stood Link, who was just as heavily laden as she was. He bore the Flame-Breaker Armor, but had no spare. Instead, he held out a Flameproof potion, which should keep her from cooking in the heat for half a day. She’d brought two herself, and he had three spares past the first.

Less than three days. Any longer, or if anything really went bad, they’d be cooked. Zelda followed Link as they hiked their way to Medingo Road.


	14. Chapter 14

Neither Zelda nor Link were in a good working shape for hiking. His flamebreak armor is a descendant of a development originally made by merchants wanting to open up trade in Goron City proper decades ago, was typically fairly heavy, made of heat resistant ceramics plates and face guards. The fortress only held militarized version of the same thing, with metal crossbars, pauldrons and face mask, intended to take not only the heat, but blows as well. 

A full set was over a hundred pounds, and Link wore every ounce like a burden. Zelda wasn’t sure she would have been able to actually carry herself very far, if he had gotten her a matching suit. Instead she carried his pack, as well as her own. He balked at first, but she pointed out that he would need to move and fight in that outfit, and that she couldn’t sneak out with much by herself. 

Zelda herself felt her body buzz with the heat resistant potion, but she felt suffocated under the cloak meant to keep her clothing and equipment from bursting into flames. She had felt lucky to have gotten a hold of the metal War Crossbow at the time, but now it was just twenty five pounds bruising her back with every stumbling step. 

It was getting dark, but enough of the hike was lit by the menacing red of molten rock high on the mountain to cast confusing shadows at her feet. Eventually, however, the path evened out, and her stumbling was just a result of her exhaustion. Medingo Trail was the only quasi functional path into Goron town, as far as accessibility by Hylians go. 

Zelda wondered why she hadn’t gotten any reports of Goron sending messages to Akkala Fort. 

She hoped that it had just been that General Ohgrin hadn’t felt the need to burden her. Zelda had forgotten to ask Robbie. Another mistake. She’d stopped counting. The Goddess or Ganon or her dreams would remind her of them soon enough. 

They had made their way along Medingo, encountering nothing but shaking earth, patches of glowing earth, and a few runnels of lava they could avoid by hopping over, as lava threatened to spill over Medingo Pool’s edges. As they approached the pool’s southern edge, there was a particularly violent rumbling. 

Something seemed off, and Zelda gave a small shriek as she realized the ground behind her was erupting upwards. 

‘Oh gods, a Talus’, she wanted to scream, but didn’t spare the words to say as she skipped forward and tried to pull her crossbow out at the same time.

Incredibly rare, and usually found only at the edges of greater Hyrule, Zelda had only read of them in reports, and only the normal or luminous ones. The Goron and Ruta had stories of fire and ice Talus.

Zelda squelched her brain’s incessant ticking off of facts, needing all her attention on the Talus with Link, who’d already drawn the Master Sword and a shield. 

Zelda skittered to the side as the stone beast seemed to rumble in challenge, avoiding the small smoking ash-pits and another lava stream. 

Link dodged a furious swipe by the beast and Zelda finally got her shaking fingers to load a steel crossbow bolt. She aimed for the glowing ore stack on its back and waited for it to sit still long enough. Her bolt hit and bounced off the ore. It threw one of its arms at Link, furious. 

Link dodged, and dodged another arm, as she reloaded. 

The Talus seemed confused for a moment before half throwing itself into the earth. 

Link took this moment to throw himself at the beast. The glint of red off of the Master Sword alarmed Zelda. 

It normally glowed with an internal light, blue-white, as if touched by the Goddess’s love directly. 

Link climbed up onto the Talus to hack at the ore directly, chipping at it far more effectively than Zelda’s tiny bolt. 

The Talus rumbled again, and Link leapt off the monster, back towards Zelda, as its arms came back, glowing and red hot. Zelda’s second bolt missed, as the Talus flailed to hit it’s attacker. 

Zelda met Link’s gaze, and her eyes darted around, to the sword, her crossbow, to the Talus. 

The ground didn’t stop rumbling, and Zelda saw, even as Link fled the Talus’s reach, something large, and hulking and luminously red come out of Medingo Pool. 

Oh Goddess, another one. 

Zelda dropped the third bolt, and ordered Link, about to pivot back to the fight, “No! There’s two!” She’d already started to extricate herself from her hiding spot, and began moving west again. They couldn’t be that quick, she prayed. “Run!” 

Link seemed to stand his ground a moment, but his common sense caught up to his courage, and she could could hear his clanking armor come close just before the crash of more boulders followed them. 

They followed the path, Zelda’s hood falling off in their haste. 

Link seemed to want to lead, and nearly took them along Goronbi Lake, and Zelda had to fight for a breath to say, “No!”

Link looked back at her and she pointed north-west. “The springs. Higher ground. If the mine bridge is out, we will be trapped.”

Zelda had been thinking about the pure volume of lava still coming out of Death Mountain on their hike. More, even, than Vah Ruta could manage water. Every second, more lava than Death Mountain had seen for thousands of years. 

Zelda followed Link as they scrambled up the steep hill onto the Gortram Flats, where there were mineral springs that a few Hylian nobles would brave the mountain to visit. 

Zelda could see now that the pools appeared to be boiling, which was alarming for the fact that typically the boiling point for these waters was well above normal standing water. Link would cook inside his suit if he fell in. She didn’t know if the fire proof potion would protect her either. Something sizzled in the suddenly humid heat of the flats.

Link edged his way behind a ridge, near one of the pools, and Zelda followed him, both of them hoping to hide from any pursuers. No one knew quite how intelligent Talus were, given their rarity. Let alone ones made of molten rock. 

Zelda recapture her breath in burning lungs. Link seemed to feel comfortable with their retreat, and turned back to her. 

“Princess. Your hair.” 

Zelda looked at him, confused. She ran her hand along the scar and missing lock of hair on the left side of her face. Had he just noticed? She’d been missing that lock of hair since that Yiga arrow had barely missed her face proper. 

He shook his head, grabbing the lock on the right side of her face, showing her the end of it.

The blond hair ended in darkened, blackened tips. It was almost as if her hood had slipped while running atop a volcano. The humid springs were enough to keep her hair from smoldering further, but she brushed his hand away, frustrated he’d waste time with her appearances.

“Nevermind that,” she said as she pulled her hood up again. “What is wrong with the Master Sword?”

Link looked a little guilty as if he’d planned to keep the secret to himself.

He’d resheathed his sword to run, but he took a step back - watching to make sure he didn’t fall into a pool of water - before out the Goddess’s sword. 

It looked like a sword. Worse, it looked like a sword that had been abused in a war. Zelda reached out to touch it, her usual reverence and fear of what the blade represented overwhelmed by shock. Link held it steady for her. 

Along its blade were nicks and scrapes. There was a small gouge at the top near the tip, where it looked like it had become corroded in a small half circle, and further down, about a foot from the hilt, was a blackened chip missing that seeped nearly an inch into the blade. 

It did not glow. It did not glimmer with power. Zelda had never related more to a battered, damaged object before, but this represented so much bigger a problem than her own feelings.

“Took damage at the Blights. Didn’t notice how bad until after Ruta. It’s still the Master Sword… but it… well...” 

Zelda almost reached out to touch the sword but was reluctant to touch the Goddess’s blade. She pulled back as she heard the sound of stone-on-stone, a clacking that set her teeth on edge.

Both Zelda and Link looked back to where they’d fled. Nothing. Another crack and the earth seemed to shake again. It must be massive, whatever it was. Zelda’s heart stopped as she imagined an even larger Talus, or maybe Vah Rudania coming over the ridge to kill them.

The shaking continued, and some of the stones, craggy edges hard enough to break either Hylian,  before them began to shift and move as three more boulders rolled down the hill towards them, one of them crashing into the shallow boiling mineral waters. 

Zelda wondered if this was just the collection of stones to form a stone Talus, equally legend in its own right when, the stone raised arms and shouted, “Whoa, brother! Don’t attack us!” 

The other stones began to move, the boulders becoming Goron, a total of five unfurling before them. 

The earth slowly stopped rumbling, another quake from the mountain. 

“Ya! Princess, Link, ya have no idea how glad we are to see you!” The young, beardless Goron looked worse for wear, as he held one arm up to cover his right eye.  

“Bludo?” Link asked, lowering the shimmering, but normal-looking sword.

Zelda lowered the crossbow, her heart still hammering as she looked around, feeling like there were still eyes on her. 

Even as they caught the Goron up on what was happening out of Hyrule, Zelda couldn’t settle, her frayed nerves still expecting Talus, or worse, to catch up to them, even as they took a short break at Link’s insistence. 

“Since you are here to stop Rudania, ya should know, it hasn’t moved in a few days, beating the ground to spur more lava. It’s surrounded by flying ancient machines that fire on anything that gets too close, monsters too. We’ve been sweeping the mountainside, trying to help any stranded Goron before we flee too.” A couple of the Goron were clearly better equipped, while the other two looked the Goron equivalent of sheepish. 

“And Daruk?” Link was doing the talking, in his low, practical whisper. 

Buldo shook his head, “Haven’t seen him since he rolled through town to pilot Rudania, brother. Town’s been flooded by now. We five are still trying to make our way off this rock but we keep running into more Talus. Most everyone else fled west as the lava rose.”

Zelda cut to the issue. “Where is Rudania now? Can you show us?”

A two of the five seem reluctant, but Buldo agreed immediately. They hiked north, up the ridge that rimmed the Gorko Valley, which was filled with lava flowing out of Gorko cave. 

Zelda looked back towards Central Hyrule and was surprised when she saw Moblins and Lizalfos in the hazy heat of the magma, digging into the earth at Gotram Cliff terminus. 

One of the Lizalfos was standing guard about a hundred meters away, watching them, but not attempting to attack them. There was already a sizable dip in Gotram Cliff, only a few feet from the lava. 

“Are they digging up natural barriers everywhere?” Zelda asked, half shouting over the din of another tremor in the earth. 

The goron looked back, shuddering in discomfort at the sight of them. “Dunno! My bro said days ago that he heard they were trying to dam one of the overflows into Lake Darman, but he’s daft and half blind.”

Zelda shook her head. She felt alarmed, but her mind couldn’t settle on why this was so alarming. It was better that the monsters weren’t hunting down the fleeing Goron, wasn’t it? 

She shook her head, not grasping the full picture yet. 

Lake Gorko was more than overflowing, feeding a steady stream through the cave. Link and Zelda and the Goron had to continue hike over the ridge that held Gorko Cave, north towards Daqa Koh Shrine and the Bridge over the Death Caldera. They still couldn’t see Vah Rudania, but the Goron assured them it just sitting in one place, rhythmically beating on Death Mountain’s side. 

They encountered another Talus in their path, and Zelda told the Goron to scatter as Link and Zelda faced it down. They had a long slippery hike back down, and they’d kill themselves if they fell down it. Zelda had already twisted her ankle on the way up and refused to complain about it. 

This time, the Talus did not get an ally, which would, unspoken between Link and Zelda, assuredly mean their death. Buldo helped by lobbing rocks at the lodestone at the Talus’s back. Zelda got hit by a spray of gravel and felt bruises forming. Link held his gloved hands out gingerly, as if he burned himself scrambling onto the Talus to deliver the final blow. 

The Talus had half crumbled, half melted into ash. Link and Zelda took a much longer break than usual, while a couple of the Goron offered to try to recover some of Zelda’s metal arrows. They asked if they could have some of the rare ore that didn’t crumble out of the Talus, and Zelda waved them on. 

What was she going to do with an uncut sapphire the size of her fist on the side of volcano, exactly? They might as well get a good meal. 

“We need to take a break soon.” Zelda was taking a drink from her canteen, careful not to waste any of the droplets as she looked at Link. She capped the drink and nodded. “A short one. But yes. Can we go far enough to get the bridge in sight?” 

Link nodded, and they gathered themselves again.

-*-*-

They didn’t end up taking a break, as they arrived at the bridge just as it began to flood outright, forcing them to try to pick their way across before it was completely swept under the lava. The Goron let them go alone, claiming to head for Akkala Fortress. 

They didn’t take a break after they made it to the mountain proper. Across the Death Calderon, Link and Zelda spend hours dodging lava and patrolling, flying ancients as they tried to make their way to where Vah Rudania was still agitating the lava flow out of the mountain. 

They didn’t take a break after they found themselves in the shadow of Vah Rudania. At any moment, it may move, either aware of their attempts, or oblivious of the tiny Hylian at its feet. They scaled the beast without climbing gear, both of them exhausted and worn.

Their first break, meager as it was, since they started hiking up Death Mountain happened on a narrow ledge on Vah Rudania’s side. Zelda needed Link to remind her to take another flame proof potion, and she had to help him pry away the sweaty, sticking latch that kept his helmet on so he could eat. 

They didn’t speak. Zelda imagine a world where they curled up and slept forever on the ledge forever, forgetting the world. 

“ _ Failure. _ ” 

Zelda’s eyes shot open. She must have fallen asleep sitting up. Her heart was beating in her chest as she had visions of falling to her death, or a monster appearing while they were weak. 

Instead, she only found one of those orange-blue eyes staring down at her from above, the muck of evil clinging to the walls and one of the doorways into Vah Rudania above. It tried to draw her gaze, but she looked away. 

“Did you hear that, Link?” 

Link followed her gaze, then back to her shaking his head, cautiously. 

“ _ Zelda, you… always were… _ ” 

She nodded, and slowly pulled out her crossbow. “Just making sure... I can hear my father’s voice.” She took aim at the eye, as it grumbled more vile poison. “I think it's Ganon. Or it could be my father, being himself.” She fired the bolt into the glowing eye, knowing her aim wasn’t quite true. It was good enough, as the eye split open, and the malaise melted away. There was something cathartic about the disappearance. She didn’t think too hard about that.

Link looked at her, far more alarmed. She sighed, as she reached back for another bolt, her muscled screaming at the stretch after the climb. “You didn’t tell me about the Master Sword. This seemed less serious.”

Link opened his mouth to speak, but Zelda was distracted by another, deeper and more regretful voice, “ **Hey little guy, tiny princess! Man, am I glad to see you two.** ” 

“Oh no, I am hearing Daruk’s voice too…” Zelda considered laying down, or if she should try to drink more water before she passed out. 

“Me too,” Link worried, looking around. 

Link’s more reasonable reaction brought Zelda to alert again. Daruk might be hurt, he may need help, and she was about to sleep it off. 

“ **You guys made quite the hike to check on me. Sorry I can’t greet you in person.** ” The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, and part of it was muffled from yet another crash from Rudania’s tail on the side of the mountain. 

“Daruk? Where are you?” Zelda asked as Link stood. Zelda loathed him for a moment, for breaking their rest, but slowly got up herself as Daruk answered. 

“ **I… fissured out unfortunately, princess. Unfortunately, Ganon’s blight got the best of me. I was afraid I’d have to watch, disembouldered, as Rudania swept the land with lava.** ” 

Zelda felt tears forming, knowing that this was yet another one of her failures. If they’d come here first, or if she could have rallied the Hylians proper… “Oh, no, Daruk. I’m so sorry.” 

“ **No, Princess, don’t worry about me! With you two here to crush the fragment of Ganon here, I couldn’t be better. We can carry on our beat-down plan to save Hylia!** ”

Tears didn’t fall. She’d done her crying when Ganon arrived, but Zelda felt terrible all the same. 

“ **I don’t need to tell you where the guidance stones are, but be careful! The place is downright swampy with Ganon’s malice, and the last guy, he packs a fiery punch!** ” Daruk’s last words seemed to echo and fade with a finality that hit Zelda like a blow.

Link and Zelda shared a look, but she couldn’t find any words. She wasn’t sure any could suffice. 

Link looked angry and helpless for a moment, before drawing his sword. His courage drove them on, so Zelda restrained her sigh and began loading her bow as they stepped into Rudania’s center. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Brief Graphic Descriptions of Violence (I typically overwarn, but I would rather make sure I forewarn anyway.)

Ganon’s evil seemed to take a liking to the heat that seemed to suffocate the air. That same violet and red and black muck seemed to spread throughout Vah Rudania, like weeds in the royal gardens, and given that it was still hours to dawn, the segmented areas of Vah Rudania were dark and difficult to navigate.

“Don’t forget that stuff took off Urbosa’s foot instantly. We should take this slowly.”

“Yes… but Urbosa doesn’t wear boots.” Link said this in almost amusement and mock disdain, like he couldn’t imagine fighting without shoes. He did not charge forward into the dark, either. They shared a short laugh, but they neither had the energy to be too amused.

“Are you still hearing him?”

Zelda needed a moment to parse Link’s quiet words over the cacophony of vicious, nasty words and cajoling pleas to her, from deep into the dark. She could see motes of orange and dark blue and black piercing the dark, her fath- Ganon staring out at her from the dark. She was trying to ignore the voices, but she still felt herself trembling with the emotional assault.

“Yes.”

Link paused long enough to let her catch up to him. She jumped when she felt his hand touch her, unable to see his hand in the gloom. At first, she thought he was trying to get her to stop, to warn her of something, but his fingers squeezed her upper arm in a surprisingly tender gesture. Neither of them were touchy-feely. He just meant to comfort a comrade-in-arms. She tried to relax. A whispered barb implied untruths about her long-dead mother.

Zelda pointed Link towards the direction of the various terminals, but she trusted him to point out which barriers she needed to target with her crossbow. They knew they needed to conserve her bolts, but she felt disoriented with all the whispers, and he seemed to realize her flagging attention.

Taking longer than either Vah Ruta or Vah Nabooris, its seemed forever for them to climb back out into the oppressive heat of the volcano onto Rudania’s back, where they were high enough to genuinely see this half of Death Mountain.

If Zelda’s breath hadn’t been taken away by the furnace blast of heat, she’d have lost it as her mind cleared from the fog of lies, staring out across the land. From where they were, they could see the flow of lava around them and through Goron Village.

Medingo Lake was already overflowing, with lava pouring out of a gap in the Death Mountain basin, directly towards Hyrule Castle. All at once, the plan made sense.  

“He’s going to surround the castle in lava.”

Link looked at her, as if he didn’t understand.

“The lava. Six or seven thousand years ago, there was a full lake on the east side of Castle Hyrule. It’s now Hyrule Forest Park, after decades of dredging to reform Hyrule Castle Moat. This is going to be worse.”

They watched as lava flowed between the finger-like pillars separating the outer edges of Death Mountain into central Hyrule proper. “Ganon’s using Rudania to recreate the same effect, creating a molten barrier around the castle.” Zelda wished she had time to solve any of their problems, her mind jumping from issue to issue without resolution. At some point, Ganon may just get to keep the castle while they rallied the rest of Hyrule.

Goddess, she needed sleep.

As they watched, one of the spires adjacent to the overflow collapsed, and more molten rock spilled down the side of the mountain towards one of the main military training grounds.

“This was why they were digging.” Link whispered.

Zelda’s thoughts travelled back on those digging Lizalfos and Moblins. “And if they are blocking off other natural channels… it’s going to get worse.” She swallowed. “The only thing we can do is stop Rudania from further accelerating the flow.”

“Then let’s keep going.”

They moved to finish reclaiming Vah Rudania. At each of the guidance stones, Daruk offered them words of encouragement, but it was hard to say if they were emboldened or demoralized in having failed to save their friend. Link’s resolve seemed to harden, at the very least.

As they activated the last of the stones, Link and Zelda both settled to take a break, long, long overdue. From their little corner near the tail they could avoid the whispers, drink water, and wait for the sun to rise, so they wouldn’t have to fight only in the red glow. Zelda had finally reclaimed enough control of Rudania to stop the lashing of its tail, but she was quite certain that it wouldn’t stick if she left the beast now, without reclaiming full control.

Scant hours of sleep was not enough, but it would have to do. She couldn’t imagine how tired Link must feel in that armor. Carrying both of their packs was more than enough for her.

The primary control station was on the top of Rudania, amongst patches of the black muck, scattered about. There were no eyes, which Zelda appreciated for the silence, but it also meant they couldn’t disperse the hazards.

Zelda also needed to take another potion, leaving them with just two remaining. Link put on his helmet again, and they trudged to finish this Blight off. Zelda pulled out her slate and indicated to Link that she’d immediately hide behind one of the archway pillars spaced about Rudania.

“ **You guys be careful, you hear? This guy’s no pushover, and he’s not afraid to hide behind a barrier like mine!”**

Link and Zelda looked at each other before watching the flaming, huge beast emerge from the central control panel, a blade larger than either of them in its right hand. Link’s sword glowed bright in the dawn light again, no sign of failure now.

The fight started off about as expected, with Link attracting the Fireblight’s attention. It only started to fall apart immediately after.

When Zelda took aim at the blight’s bright blue eye, a face, ghostly and ghastly familiar overlaid on the beast’s face and stared at her directly.

Zelda flinched. Even having gotten used to her fathe- Ganon using her father’s voice to berate her, it was quite another to see his face and baleful disappointment stare her down.

Zelda was caught half frozen even as fiery shrapnel - like grapeshot from her father’s cannons - roared towards her. It was only Link’s shouted warning that reminded her to hide behind the pillar as the flame bounced off of it.

“ _How could you let everyone down?_ ”

The voice seemed to come from everywhere, confusing and terrifying Zelda as she sought out where it went.

Looking from behind the Pillar, it appeared gone, but she saw Link chasing towards her.

A blast of heat hit the back of her neck.

“ _Everyone!_ ”

Zelda hit the floor, landing on her crossbow as something heavy and likely very deadly hit the pillar above her.

Link shouted an assault as Zelda rolled sluggishly off of her weapon. The Fireblight recoiled as Link cut through its amorphous form of muck and flames, but Zelda saw Link was pressing too hard.

“Step!” she croaked, as Link stepped closer and closer to a puddle of the black and violet muck that spread here and there. She struggled to her knees and staggered against the pillar.

Either Link heard her, or was well aware, but he pulled back to stand between her and the monster.

The shadow of her father reformed over its maw and spat, “ _Still dragging people down with you._ ”

“ **Little princess, don’t listen that sack of soil. That’s just Ganon trying to mess with you!** ”

Zelda watched the Fireblight shrink into a small orb of flame and transition away from them as if the get a better read on the situation.

“Thanks Daruk.” She sounded like she was put out by his advice, but she was more still catching her breath and furious with herself that she looked like she needed it spelled out for her.

She checked her crossbow, still loaded, still ready. Link cautiously approached the Blight, as if expecting more tricks. Zelda waited for an opening, or an opportunity to make one for Link.

The monster danced around a bit more, trying to draw them into a mistake, but mostly caught Link’s blade in its side. Zelda held back, but found that it seemed to pay special attention to her and when she was aiming to hit it with a bolt. Ignoring the baleful glare of her father’s face, and deaf to the vile commentary, she distracted it long enough for Link to press the attack again.

It howled in frustration, and floated away from them, bound in the same orange shield that Daruk sported as heir and chieftain of the Goron. Only as both of them recognized the impenetrable shield, the monster appeared to begin sucking air into its raised fist, followed by debris, dust, and magma. Zelda felt it sucking at her clothing and body, as she huddled behind the nearest pillar, careful of another puddle of malice.

LInk looked to do the same as she peeked out. Bracing herself against the column, she took aim with her crossbow, hoping to catch the shield fall apart for a moment when the Blight inevitably threw the magma orb at them.

Wind sucking at her hood and hair, she took careful aim and saw her father’s blue face behind that orange wall, more disappointed in her efforts than angry. Her heart skipped a beat, but she waited. Her father shook his head and threw the orb of lava at her directly.

She fired, even as she saw the lava go through the shield as if it were only an illusion. The shield flashed briefly, lightly, but nothing. The lava orb traveling slowly at first, seemed to accelerate, and Zelda ducked beneath the pillar.

She yelped as the orb hit the pillar she was hiding behind, and gobbets of molten rock singed the corners of her fireproof cloak.

Yanking her cloak out of the worst of the lava, she looked up to see that the Ganon Blight had moved to get a better shot at her, still glowing orange with Daruk’s shield. She danced over cooling bits of rock and the puddle of muck closest to her to get away before the vortex could threaten to suck her in again. Link beckoned her towards where he hid behind the main control stone.

“ **This is where the big lead head got me, guys. I threw stone after stone, and nothing seemed to break that protection.** ”

Daruk sounded beat too, like he was for lack of a better plan.

Link shook his head, as both of them watched the lava ball grow larger. “...explosive arrows…”

Zelda shook her head, motioning to the air filled with dirt and flashes of still burning material. “It’d explode in your hand before it left your quiver.”

They dodged that orb of lava, and the next. The fourth time, Link nearly tripped into a puddle of muck as the wind sucked at his hair. Zelda was getting tired just holding on to resist the vortex. This was where they were going to die.

Zelda shook her head, pulling out the Slate as a last resort. Maybe the Blight would have some metal she could latch on to. Maybe it would stand near a puddle of cool, refreshing water so she could hit it with ice too.

No such luck, and she lost her hiding spot to another orb of fire. She was so far beyond frustrated, she was feeling morose. She thought about just activating the Rudania’s tail agitation again, just to make sure the world was covered in flames properly as her fault, rather than just by not being good enough.

Zelda blinked as she realized just how much control she’d regained of Vah Rudania.

She looked up and saw where they were on Rudania proper, seeing that Link was taunting the monster to draw its next shot.

He must have thought she had a plan. She almost did.

The lava orb accelerated towards Link, who dodged limply behind the control panel again. He looked tired, the armor still clanking with each step. His eyes met hers and she motioned for them both to head towards the back of Vah Rudania, even as the Blight set up for another shot.

This shot missed, and it seemed to zip right in front of them, as if blocking their escape towards the tail of the beast, where they could have leapt from only a dozen meters to the ground.

Zelda swallowed and looked down at the Sheikah Slate as the wind began to suck at them both again.

Link pulled on her, more to get her to hide rather than to fight the wind. She ignored his insistence. For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening, and her father seemed to approve of her lack of resistance with a ferocious grin.

Then, the horizon between themselves and mountain seemed to shrink, as Vah Rudania’s tail began to bend backwards.

Zelda glanced back down at the slate, not wanting to waste this one chance. The hammer on the tail rose higher and higher as if to strike the mountain with brutal force. Then it began to bend backwards, casting a shadow.

Finally, as the lava ball nearly reached its maximum size, Vah Rudania’s spiked tail crashed into the orange sphere, an ancient unstoppable force meeting generations of impenetrable magic.

The blow rung like a bell the size of Death Mountain. Zelda threw herself to the ground with her hands covering her ears, Link doing the same not far away.

The ringing seemed to slowly fade away, and they both looked up, surprised. The Blight itself was stumbling upright as well, the flicker of an orange sphere fading with the sound.

Link got to his feet as the Blight found its bearings. Even it seemed to decide its defense was broken, and instead used some of its power to engulf its blade in flames.

Zelda was still trying to get to her feet and pull out her crossbow as the two engaged swordplay. This time, Zelda was able to even fire two of her last six bolts into the beast’s hide as Link disengaged from the fight for a moment. The beast’s eye was on Link, but her father’s spirit shouted and gestured at her. She still couldn’t hear much over the ringing in her ears.  

Zelda had just loaded her third bolt when Link’s and the Blight’s blades, both glowing with their own light, clashed hard as Link tried to deflect a blow. There was a catch as they locked together.  A moment later, the blue-white light of the Master Sword vanished all at once.

Zelda saw the last foot of the Master Sword break off and spin out of sight, but her focus was on the flaming blade that suddenly bit deep into Link’s armor, into his chest.

“ **Little guy!”**

Zelda swallowed back a cry as she forced herself to look past the triumph on her father’s face and into the cold blue eye behind it.

Her bolt hit true and threw the monster back, and to the ground before the master control panel. Link fell limply to the ground, like a dead person.

She ran to him and threw the crossbow to the side so that she could work unimpeded. “Oh no, oh Goddess no.”

Link had a cut through his armor and into his shoulder. There wasn’t much blood, but she could see the cauterized mess of flesh and the blackened edges surrounding the pure white of what could have been collarbone.

“Don’t move, I-”

She didn’t know. She didn’t know what to do.

Link stuttered something out even as he stopped moving, “S-s-s-sword.”

Zelda looked and saw that he seemed to have relaxed his grip on the blade, and she saw with the flick of his eyes what he wanted, and saw the wisdom too.

She grabbed the Master Sword, an unfamiliar tool in her hands, and lighter than she expected at first. It did not begin glowing again for her. She stepped over Link towards the blight. The pair of them were sprawled, but the Blight seemed to be pulling itself together again. Zelda’s haste increased as she stepped up to its head.

It’s bright blue eye focused on her, but before it could summon her father’s face, she brought the bladed edge down on its head once, like striking stone with a shovel.

Then again. And again. It seemed to want to push her back, but grew weaker with every blow. Eventually, it stopped moving, and the malice that seemed to make up its body began to dissipate. She threw the sword to the ground with a clatter and ran back over to Link.

He was breathing fast and shallowly, leaving Zelda where she was moments before. “It’s dead, Its dead, Link.” She still had no idea what to do. Her hands wavered over the wound, shaking really.

She didn’t have anything for a wound like this. She didn’t have anything like a real cure. Goddess, she should have stolen into the fortress apothecary for proper healing, not just-

“ **Princess?”**

She scrambled for her backpack. “Eh?”

“ **Princess, What should I do? Should I take us to Goron City? Is little guy…** ”

“I- I don’t… Can you get us east? Can you move us towards Akkala Fortress?” She seized on the potion she sought, as well as her canteen.

She moved back to Link, who was holding on, his insane constitution keeping him alive. “Link. Your armor is breached. I need you to take a fireproof potion, or else you are going to cook. I am going to take your helmet off right now. Do not move. I got it, alright.”

“Hynh.”

“Don’t talk, just stay awake, just breathe, okay?”

Zelda gingerly pulled his helmet off, much to Link’s agony. She was amazed he didn’t pass out. She waited for him to be ready, before pouring the draught down his throat, followed by a little water.

He choked it down, with only minor sputtering. She glanced at the wound again. She was glad she wasn’t squeamish. There was still very little blood in the wound, a slash angled from collarbone towards his left side at an angle. She couldn’t tell if it caught part of his lung, but the fact that blood wasn’t pouring from him meant that no major vein or artery must have been hit.

She thought. She’d learned first aid from the battle medics, and her training extended to ‘stabilize the patient and wait for a doctor’. Her expertise was in history and botany and Ancient technology, not surgery or critical care.

Zelda settled for covering Link up with the tarp she had for if they had to camp on the mountain and giving him another sip of water. She didn’t want to touch the wound. They needed a healer.

“ **Princess, I- I can’t do much more than move this thing and set up the canon, and even then, I do feel my reach fading.** ”

“Don’t worry, Daruk, you’ve done great. Just... “ She looked up and saw a spectral form of Daruk standing before her, looking as pensive and helpless as she’d ever seen him. She related. “Can you watch to make sure Link doesn’t do anything stupid, like move, or look for anyone who can help transport him? We need to get him to Mipha.”

“ **Little Fi- Swimmer survived?** ” The ghost of Daruk moved to the edge of the platform to survey the molten cliffs of Death Mountain.

Zelda pulled out the slate feeling, like a monster as she turned away from Link, possibly dying at her side. Her stomach churned and she changed the direction of Vah Rudania a bit, looking to take as easy a terrain as possible for Link. “Yeah. We went to Vah Naboris and Vah Ruta First. They survived, but…” A thought occurred to Zelda.

Zelda began tapping at the slate furiously, looking for the deeper controls of Vah Rudania. She then began to activate the first phase of the canon, a feature previously locked away beyond even Zelda’s access, waiting for the arrival of Ganon.

“ **Princess? What are you doing?** ”

It looked like she was about to activate the canon on the Akkala Sheikah Tower, just visible over the ridges of Death Mountain now, light building up for a shot. It took some arguing with the controls, but she finally got the canon to disperse the energy, then charge, then discharge again.

It wasn’t fast enough to meet Hylian signalling standards, but she set the message all the same.

\- ALERT, LINK HURT, GET HEALER, URGENT, ACKNOWLEDGE. - On repeat. Normally, these signals needed to be directed to the nearest way-station, but she knew that the canon was bright enough to be seen for miles, and no one at the fortress would ignore the sight of Vah Rudania appearing to charge its cannon while approaching over the ridges to its position.

As they crested the last bit of hill, they were in full sight of Akkala, and of Upland Zorana. She wasn’t sure if Mipha could read Hylian light signalling, but Wintell could. They could see Vah Ruta standing guardian over the Zora refugee camp at the top.

“ **Princess! There are a few Goron just up ahead!** ” They were just passing by Darb Pond, and Zelda moved to the edge to see what Daruk spotted.

Five boulders below, looking up at them, looking awed and frightened, but not fleeing, up on the ridge above Medingo Path.

She halted the Divine beast, but kept the message running as she urged the Divine Beast to lower its torso to allow her to shout down at the Goron.

“Hey! Please, help! Climb up here!”

It sounded meek and minor and was practically covered up by the sound of the mountain rumbling again.

“ **GORON! ASSEMBLE!** ” Daruk cried, next to her, and the five figures below began approaching the Divine Beast. One of them, she recognized as Bludo himself. She was glad the five had heeded her advice and went this way.

As they began to climb up Rudania, Zelda checked on Link, who was still breathing shallowly, but his eyes were closed. His right hand was clenched so tight, she could see the outline of bones and veins. His left was completely limp.

“Link, we are getting you to help, okay? Don’t move and stay alive, alright?” He made a soft grunting noise at that, and she took that as the best acknowledgment she was going to get.

She ran back to the front of Rudania, to see if anyone had begun to respond to her message. None yet. She glanced at the slate to make sure she hadn’t mistimed the message.

She went back to Link, and saw Bludo nearly on the platform. She started to get some ideas

He pulled himself up completely and saw her first, “Nicely done, sister! You-” He noticed her attention on the limp form on the deck of Rudania. “Oh, onyx, what happened?”

“Ganon, and some old magic gone wrong. I need the five of you to take Link to Akkala and to Pri- Queen Mipha. You will have to be exceedingly careful with him, and put him on the tarp to carry him. We will get as close as possible, but Vah Rudania can’t leave Death Mountain.”

Link keened as they moved him onto the sling, a dreadful noise that would punctuate Zelda’s dreams for days to come.

Zelda finally got an acknowledgement signal - first from Upland Zorana, and then from Akkala Fortress as she maneuvered the Divine Beast as far as she could onto the west side of Kanelet, one leg as flattened as possible to allow the Goron to carry Link carefully offboard.

Zelda went to Link, who was breathing a little quickly, but otherwise had his eyes open, and was awake. His wound was covered by corner of the tarp, since they didn’t have anything more suitable. He was in obvious agony, and she wasn’t sure if he was actually as alert as he appeared, or in some kind of shock.

The Goron gave her space, as she bent down to him.

“Link, I am so sorry.” Link’s eyes didn’t quite meet hers, and she was wondering if he even really heard her. “We are taking you to Mipha, as soon as possible. In any other situation like this, I might have taken you to the Shrine of Resurrection in Old Hyrule. Its further away, and, frankly, we have no assurance that Ganon hasn’t corrupted it like all the rest of the Ancient’s tools.”

Link’s eyes began to focus a little more as Zelda rambled, mostly working up the courage to get to her point, like usual. Link could always see right through her. Like when she first asked him to take her to the Sheikah Tower before she had to face her father’s disgust at a lack of success at the Shrine of Wisdom.

Or maybe Link was just in a moment of sharper pain. She read too much into things. Regardless, she plowed forward.

“Bludo and the Goron will get you to Mipha. I am going to take the Master Sword back to its resting place. Back to Lost Woods.”

That did get Link’s attention, as he blinked more alertly.  

“Don’t move, we have you tied down so you aren’t jostled.” That didn’t seem to reassure him, so she might as well continue. “The Sword of Evil’s Bane, it is broken.” She’d gathered the two pieces earlier and shoved them with their packs, out of sight. “I need you to recover, Link. So does all of Hyrule. I also need you to take one crucial message directly to Mipha. I don’t think she’d believe anyone but you. I know the General will reject any plan of mine.”

Link grunted, mixed in pain and acknowledgement.

“Tell Mipha to destroy Ruta Dam with the Divine Beast.”

Lin - Goddess blessed and the most stubborn, hardy person she’d ever known - still had to wearwithal to frown at her, then his body shook in an uncontrolled tremor. His breath left him in a whimper, and he scrunched his eyes closed. Zelda, in a moment, considered dropping her reckless abandon and going with him, even as she was surely to be detained by the General.

But his eyes opened, tearful but alert, wanting to understand. He’d always heard her out, every inane theory and long-winded history lesson. She didn’t make him wait any longer.

“The waters will reach across the Hyrule Plains, and as far as the castle, if the histories and folklore are right. We can’t let the castle get engulfed in flames, not from all sides. If Ganon wants to raise the stakes, we can’t just keep fighting him with tricks he’s expecting, with only tools the Ancients gave us. Water to quench fire.”

Link blinked a few times, tears streaming now, likely more pain than any ordinary person could bear. His breath was shallow again, but he gave a weak noise that might have been an acknowledgement.

Zelda didn’t want him to spend any more energy on her nattering. Either he’d remember or not. “Stay immortal, Link. We still have work to do.”

The Goron balked at first at leaving her behind, but Zelda abused their generally good nature and habit not to argue. They carried Link away, even as she could see a small contingent of horses leave Akkala Fortress to circle the long way around the castle, with Akkala Span washed out.

Zelda let them get well clear of Rudania, then commanded it back west again, towards the Lost Woods.

“ **Do you think this will work, princess?”** Daruk’s voice was quiet, muted, and there was no spectral visage of him anymore.

Zelda had clasped her arms around herself, as she watched Link vanish behind a hill. “I don’t know… I wasn’t sure if you were still with us.”

“ **I am always with you, Princess. But I think I am bound here until we finish this fight.** ”

Zelda gave a small imitation of a laugh. “That may be a long time, Daruk. The goddess has never cut me a break, and now the sword is broken, the Hero of Time in critical condition. We are barely reclaiming the Ancients, but Ganon is playing a game its had millenia to plan and endless stamina to wear us down.”

“ **I understand, Princess. Is King Dorephan dead? You called her Queen Mipha.** ”

“Ah, yes. Zora’s Domain got invaded by several Lionels with lightning arrows. He died defending his people. I think.” She wondered what else she could say. “Urbosa’s alive, but she lost a foot. She’s holding the desert and protecting refugees from Hyrule. I don’t know how the Rito are doing. I will see what I can do there next.”

She ran her hands through her frazzled, tangled hair. A few inches at the end broke off as she pulled her fingers free.

She’d forgotten to put her hood back up. She couldn’t remember when it had fallen off. “I’ve got some words for the Deku Tree about the sword. Otherwise, we just keep going, and pray that’s enough to stop Ganon.”

“ **I trust you, Princess.** ”

“You probably shouldn’t… But thanks, Daruk. I’m going to lie down for a bit, but I need to be off the mountain before sunset. Don’t let me sleep for too long.” She set an alarm anyway, not knowing if Daruk’s spirit would truly linger.

“ **Can do, Princess.** ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot I'd wanted to say at some point about this chapter, but I also don't necessarily know how the courtesy of long or frequent author's notes may have changed. 
> 
> This is another one of those moments I've sort of had planned from the start, but the tone is far different than I'd anticipated. I was still thinking in the context of the Zelda from the game, so there was a lot more drama and tears, much closer to the tone of the last few memories, Zelda still in her muddied Shrine outfit. I think this is the moment that might have implied a return to canon, if Zelda had decided that the Resurrection Shrine was their best bet. 
> 
> Hopefully my more bone-tired, pragmatic Zelda still makes sense. She's not been blessed by the goddess and has had more than a week to consider what other Ancient technology Ganon may have corrupted. This is not to say she might not have more personal motives *not* to visit within a mile of where her father's corpse may still be resting.
> 
> Of course, now that I think of it, It would be an interesting side story to see a how a corrupted Shrine of Resurrection fan-fic would play out. Malice-Ganon seems to have ruined most of the functional Ancient tech, why not that shrine too, I suppose. Does Zelda help the world recover without Link, thus having the Link inside the shrine become the next Ganon-incarnation? Do the isolated portions of Ganon and Link fuse together, creating something different? Maybe with a Dark Link vs Malice Ganon storyline? Not my style personally, but all I can think of is a Ganondorf-in-Link's-body narration would be definitely a fun read. 
> 
> Anyway, I sometimes I just like to talk. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy!


	16. Chapter 16

Visions of watching both her father’s mangled, rotting corpse and Link’s burned husk try to crawl towards the Shrine of Resurrection flashed behind her eyes as she blinked herself awake. Neither won the race before her Sheikah Slate alarm went off.

Another three hours. She’s had about eleven hours of sleep in the last three days. Her head felt heavy as she tried to lift it, like it was weighted by a crown of lead. She tried to use one arm to rub her eyes, but missed the first time, still watching Link and her father corpse crawl ad infinitum behind her still unopened left eye.

“ **You should sleep more, Princess. Even the flow of magma burns itself out.”**

Zelda unthinkingly tried to run her other hand through her hair, and got it caught in a tangle of threads. She yelped and found herself more awake at the sting in her scalp. She tried to pull her fingers free and found a clump of Hylian blonde and smoldered black hair came with it, entwined around her fingers.

Even the golden strands were nearly crisp to the touch and - when she pinched and rubbed a few strands beween her thumb and forefinger, they broke into even smaller pieces.

She pulled the hair free from her fingers and traced the narrow scar created by a Yiga arrow and left by five days of healing and Mipha’s touch.

Judging by her left forelock and a longer strand that had fallen over her shoulder - she was handling her hair delicately now - it looked like all but the newest five inches was heavily damaged. Either by virtue of being newer, or some effect of the fireproof potion, she might not lose all her hair, but…

She gave herself a short laugh, and went to her pack, knowing she needed to drink some water.

**“Princess?”**

Zelda realized she’d ignored what he’d said, and had spent a minute wasting time mesmerized by her hair. She must have looked delirious. She wasn’t sure the accusation would be inaccurate.

“I’m glad you are still here Daruk. I was half afraid that by the time I woke up, you’d be gone.” Zelda wondered if that sounded like a dodge. She might have meant it to be, but instead decided to answer, “I know I should sleep. I should, but I can’t stay on this mountain forever. I only have one potion left, and I want to leave one behind in case I need to return to Vah Rudania.”

**“Little Princess, I am the last person to lecture on not rushing into things, but you can’t defeat Ganon on willpower and courage alone.”**

Zelda found her empty canteen. Ah, that’s right, she’d used all of her water on Link. She’d been stupid choosing to falling asleep with that in mind. If she’d gotten too weak for lack of water, she might not have been able to make it off the mountain. She might not have woken up.

Vah Rudania had stopped on the westernmost portion of Death Mountain, overlooking Lost Woods and the northern Military Training Grounds. “Yeah. You are right.” Hyrule Castle and the city beyond were just barely visible from here. The five plinths that seemed to have erupted from the ground around the castle looked like they were of Ancient design, but she couldn’t tell from here.

The town no longer smoked. It didn’t mean that there was someone doing something to put out the fires. It meant that there was nothing left alive to put them out, and all the fuel had been exhausted.

“I don’t have to defeat him. I just need to keep moving. Defeating him was never *my* destiny anyway.” And she’d gotten the destined one killed, probably.

**“Princess…”**

She moved over to the two pieces of the master sword, a perfect symbol of Hyrule now, and picked up the larger portion by the hilt.

“Daruk. Don’t even try. Mipha and Link already have. I’m not wise enough to listen.”

She put the blade in her lap and gathered her hair, behind her in a ponytail. It cracked, even as she tightened it into a ragged bundle. When she’d gotten most of it in one hand, she picked up the blade with her right hand and began hacking at the ponytail above her hand.

It was quick work for a sharp blade, even broken and chipped. She tossed aside nearly two feet of damaged hair. For all that it was, she wouldn’t regret not having to pull it out of her face. It still felt like losing a small part of herself, even if it were very very small.

 **“Then let me do something to help, Princess.”** The goron spoke as if he was offering something, but she couldn’t imagine what. His spirit re-manifested itself near her pack, where she had already pulled out the rope she was going to be using to climb back down Vah Rudania, as soon as she armed it’s cannon.

She wanted to be dismissive, or cajoling. He was dead, it was her fault, and she didn’t and couldn’t expect anything from him. Link could be dead too. She didn’t think she should be soliciting favors from the dead she’d caused.

“What’s that, Daruk?” She kicked the large chunk of hair off the edge of Rudania, not wanting to look at it anymore.

He cupped his hands. Nothing happened initially. As she was about to thank him regardless - her faith at a very minimum, even in the last vestiges of a dead friend - light began to pool, separate from the bright blue of ghost.

She stepped closer, more fascinated than afraid, and an orb with the ancient Rudania emblem formed. It looked like a giant dollop of still orange hot lava, and shimmered with concentrated mana, like the cores from the Ancients.

It lifted from his hands and floated towards her faster than she could react. It flowed into and through her, filling the space between her muscles and the gaps between bones, unsettling, warm, uplifting. She finally did take those couple of steps back, and had to remember before she nearly backed off of Rudania proper.

“What did you do, Daruk? What is this?”

Magic still suffused her, and it felt stickly and wrong and good and right.

**“I gave you a little of my power, Princess. I don’t know how sturdy it will be, but wherever you go, my shield should follow. Just… don’t test its strength too much. You’re gonna need it, and we all need you in one piece for this fight.”**

Zelda wasn’t crying, not quite, but tears were running down her face. She couldn’t spare the water, but she didn’t know it was happening until a few drops fell from her face, past her hands where she was still searching her body for what or where the magic went.

**“What is it, little princess?”**

She swallowed down a frog in her throat, managing not to croak out, but knew it still sounded like a plea, “Is this what it feels like to be t-touched? To be blessed by the Goddess?” It felt different, almost as good and real as when she’d finally cracked the last fraction of the Ancient’s language two years ago when she was fifteen. She had been almost certain her father was finally going to be proud of her.

The sensation was like a manifestation of confidence.

She didn’t deserve Daruk’s confidence, but how could she tell a ghost that he shouldn’t rely on her?

Daruk was obviously disarmed by the sudden question. She swallowed again her projection and the sudden overwhelming envy she now had at the champions for their own powers. She sniffed, and wiped at her face. “No, nevermind. Thank you Daruk. How do I use it?”

He taught her the defensive position she’d need to surround herself with a glowing orange force field, not unlike pretending she was holding up an imaginary shield. A power that had only previously been held by Goron leaders for generations, and now hers to use.

Zelda thanked him, in her awkward way, and he promised to watch over Rudania and be ready when they brought the fight back to Ganon proper.

“If there’s… I’d do anything in return.” Her offer was meager. She wasn’t asking to return the favor, even she knew that. She was just desperate for forgiveness. For his and everyone’s deaths. For not being enough.

Daruk didn’t seem to understand quite what she really wanted, but tried anyway, “ **You’re doin’ it, little princess. Save my people, save Hyrule. Don’t let my blunders slow us down. Link will be after you soon enough. He always is, no matter where you run off!”**

Daruk’s bright grin, luminous even in the bright day was always second to Urbosa’s in brightening Zelda’s mood, a sheer will of optimism that was impossible to ignore.

When she’d climbed off of the armed Vah Rudania, she looked up. She had expected that Daruk would be gone. He waited staring down at her and waving from Vah Rudania’s deck.

But when she reached the edge of Death Mountain, standing above the West Mountain Hunting Lodge, Daruk had vanished.

Zelda was alone.

Alone, but for her Sheikah Slate, the broken Master Sword, and that weak web of power she could still feel about her body.

Descending the mountain was harder than climbing it. Not only was she still above the heat-line for most of it, but her ankle was still twisted from the fight with the Fireblight beast. She hadn’t been able to take the boot off earlier, and she was worried about what that might portend for walking all the way to the center of Great Hyrule Forest.

She took the climb a little too quickly at the end, eager to be able to rest her ankle. Her grip slipped, and she slid the last ten feet.

She screeched in agony as her swolen ankle tried to take her weight and momentum and collapsed to her knees at the bottom.

She just wanted to sit there and wallow a moment, but heard the chatter of Bokoblin and Moblin.

Zelda’s heart didn’t slow from her tumble, as her head shot up to look through a gap in the thin bushes and rocks she’d fallen behind, near a narrow pathway.

The West Mountain Hunting Lodge was barely worth the name, a squat, low building of wood underneath a solitary, proud tree, still green with late summer growth. That a tree could survive the shadow of Death Mountain was a testament to its will to survive, but it was not what attracted her attention.

Three Bokoblins and a white Moblin were arguing, having come out of the hunting lodge. The Bokoblins were pointing towards Zelda, and she began to crawl on her hands and knees, trying not to jostle her ankle, following the narrow pathway that lead from the lodge and into the mountain face.

There was a huge cracking noise, and she spared a moment to look.

The Moblin had ripped the lodge’s door off and had thrown it over the Bokoblins, directing them to go check it out themselves, she gathered. She continued crawling, hoping the path might lead her somewhere to hide, or at least away from where the Bokoblins would check.

What she found at the end of the pathway wasn’t promising. Just a shoddy wooden facade with a door, likely protecting the entrance to a small natural cave. The weedy shrubs and rocks were thinner here, and the Bokoblins were definitely getting closer. She didn’t spare to look, as she threw herself at the door and pushed it open.

Inside was a small storage area half-filled with Goron-style metal crates. She threw the door closed behind her with too much force, causing a clatter before scooting away from the door, her ankle giving out before she screamed in pain again.

In nearly pitch black of the cave and with little place to hide, she almost forgot about the Sheikah Slate until the bokoblin chatter was at the door. She activated Magnesis Rune and pushed one of the magenta highlighted box behind the door.

The Bokoblins ran into the door, and it clattered open just enough to allow a sliver of light to come through.

Zelda froze, choking back her heaving breath as the Bokoblins argued in their chittering language amongst themselves. They tried the door again, and she heard something scratching at the wood, a weapon or claws.

They seemed to remain at the door forever, but their racket hid her labored breathing as one hand remained clamped over her mouth. Her ankle screamed loud enough she was surprised the bokoblins didn’t hear it themselves.

Eventually, they started rattling shrubbery and rocks, bored with the door that wouldn’t open for them.

As soon as she heard they’d moved further down the path, back to the lodge, she let herself breathe, gasping in panic and exhaustion.

She waited at least thirty minutes, according to the Slate, for the sound of Bokoblins to vanish completely. She cautiously looked out the crack in the door. The sun was lower, but nothing waited for her outside. She pulled the crate away and opened the door again, hiding behind it, just in case.

Nothing. The bead of tension related to just the latest encounter faded, and she took a little time to dig into the store room, hoping for something she could use.

The metal crate had rich-ore in it, likely for Goron visitors.

The rest of the crates were relatively barren, as if whoever had been at the Lodge when Ganon had appeared decided to clean the stores out. She did find one jar of preserved apple slices, likely missed under a spread of canvas in the bottom of the crate. She thought it was her best find, until she opened the chest marked with the official Hylian sigil of her family.

At the bottom of the crate was a carefully wrapped bundle of ice arrows and a torch. No doubt intended to handle any fire lizalfos who came down from the mountain, the arrows would be better than her current weapons, a broken sword and a very limited Sheikah Slate, but she was more happy to see the torch. It would be dark in the woods, and she needed to see the Deku Tree.  

Zelda closed the door to her hideout again. Hunched in the dark, she ate the small jar of preserved apples, wishing she had some water to drink with them, but thankful for small boons all the same.

She tested her ankle again, and it seemed strong enough to hold her weight, though it favored terribly.

Unsure of when she’d eventually be found, Zelda shuffled out of the cave, closing the door behind her as she watched for trouble.

The Bokoblins and Moblin seemed to be disassembling the lodge for the wooden planks, and were too busy screaming at one another to notice her slip past and down the mountain, trailing south southwest. She could see the miasma of the castle, and the two beams of the Ancient Beasts Vah Nabooris far in the distance, and of Vah Rudania behind her.

Hebra Mountain was obscured by the sun’s blinding light, and it looked like a Sheikah Tower had sprouted from the training grounds.

When she finally got down to the tree level again, she was relieved. She hid her remaining flameproof potion and the flame resistant cloak behind a large rock on the side of the path, and knew that the trail below would lead her either to the Military Training Grounds to the south, and to Great Hyrule Forest, and the heart of Lost Woods, to the north.

She was about to turn north, after underneath a small copse of trees near a hill, until she caught the smell of offal over the usual smell of tar not far from the grounds.

She didn’t want to climb the small hill between herself and the Military Training Grounds, but she forced herself to do so anyway, cautious and worried of an ambush.

The grounds were war torn and mangled, the old structures used to host mock sieges fallen and burning in places. There were several dead Ancient Guardians, but she also saw a few Electric Lizalfos sorting among the trash on the field, and a pair of flame wreathed Wizzrobes. She’d seen a few in old Sheikah lore scrolls, but they were more distorted and creepy in reality, dancing on air over their burning prize.

One of the Lizalfos threw some of the trash into the nearby tar pit, cheering as the form seemed to float for a few moments, before being sucked in.

Zelda realized that the trash her brain had refused to register were dead soldiers, still in ragged armor but very, very dead. Another two lizalfos were hacking at the body of a Goron in the shadow of the orange Sheikah Tower, trying to make it small enough to drag to the pits.

Zelda shuffled away before she’d absorbed anymore information, but still lost the contents of her stomach at the base of the hill.

She stumbled away, north, towards Lost Woods, her head swirling and her ankle too stiff to move. As she watched the trees shift from green and young, into older, twisted trees of the Great Hyrule Forest Itself, her head did slowly clear, 

A miracle did happen, as she found a small pool, a puddle really, that had collected, and was mostly settled. She struggled to her knees and fill her canteen and drink down the silty water. She could only refill it twice before the puddle became more mud than water. A small part of her worried about parasites and disease, but between dehydration today and disease tomorrow…

For good measure, she slathered some of the cool mud on the back of her neck, her skin pricking pleasantly with the cold after two days on Death Mountain.

It was nearly twilight, and Zelda knew she couldn’t stop here, so close to the training grounds massacre. She passed through the small stone pass that marked the true entrance to the forest, and its protective fog rose from unnaturally cool earth. She almost missed the the scorch marks on the stone face.

She slowly crept forward, wondering how they got there, and hoping there would be a fire nearby to light her own torch, as she heard the screams of a handful of people ahead.

The flash of light that cut through the forest evening gloom was more than enough to prompt her to hobble forward as fast as she could, jaw locked to ignore the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I made another map. https://flic.kr/p/NYyWAx (Spoilers for locations of shrines in the base game)
> 
> The BOTW is very interesting, and has names for a bunch of random places, like the Shadow Hamlet Ruins, and each of the Mesas in Gerudo Highlands, but they don't name that single solitary tree west of Death Mountain. So I gave it one for HtN. Since so much of my description is dependent on the locations I am using, I figured the map would help people place where Zelda was (if anyone wants to check out the in-game locations). You should be able to follow without the game, though. 
> 
> Give me a heads up if I need to describe more or less to keep you up. Its easy for me to check things out as I am writing, but I want to make sure the story reads well too!
> 
> Thanks for reading and have a good day!


End file.
